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OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he isn’t planning for the moment to call Saudi Arabian authorities to ask that jailed blogger Raif Badawi be freed.

In a year-end interview with The Canadian Press, Trudeau said he won’t pick up the phone right now on behalf of Badawi, who was sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in jail for his criticism of Saudi clerics.

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“It’s not in my immediate plans,” he said Wednesday.

“Raif Badawi has a family who are here in Canada, which gives a certain connection,” Trudeau said. “It’s a humanitarian case on which we continue to express ourselves in a clear fashion.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion met in Ottawa on Thursday with his Saudi counterpart, Adel Al Jubeir, and discussed various topics, including Badawi.

“I expressed the government’s hope that clemency will be granted in this case,” Dion said in a statement.

Trudeau’s remarks came despite the fact that when he was opposition leader some of his MPs, including Dion, called on then-prime minister Stephen Harper to personally ask the Saudi king to release Badawi.