Canada's Trudeau raises plight of jailed Saudi blogger

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has raised the plight of a jailed Saudi blogger with the kingdom's ruler King Salman, his office said on Tuesday.

Trudeau said he had "serious concern[s]" over the continued jailing of Raif Badawi for running a blog that promoted free speech and women's rights in Saudi Arabia.

He was arrested in 2012 and sentenced to 1,000 lashes and ten years in jail for "insulting Islam".

Badawi's wife Ensaf Haidar has been granted asylum by Canada and has campaigned relentlessly for her husband's release. 

During Trudeau's call with the Saudi king, the two "spoke about the importance of respecting human rights and freedom of speech, as well as democratic reforms in Saudi Arabia", AFP reported.

"[Trudeau] also raised consular issues, and expressed his ongoing, serious concern about the imprisonment of human rights activist Raif Badawi."

Hopes that Badawi would receive a royal pardon - after European lawmaker Josef Weidenholzer returned from Riyadh a few months earlier - in Januarywere dashed when nothing materialised.

Badawi received the first 50 of his 1,000 lashes sentence in January 2015 but there have been no more, after criticism from the US, UN and EU.

Amnesty International had previously criticised Trudeau for suggesting that pushing Saudi Arabia too hard on the issue of Badawi's freedom could backfire.