Al Jazeera News :
Public prosecutors in Saudi Arabia are seeking the death penalty against prominent Muslim scholar Salman al-Awdah, local media, activists and his family members have said.
Awdah, who UN experts have described as a “reformist,” was imprisoned a year ago, shortly after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched a crackdown on dissent and imposed a land, sea and air blockade on the kingdom’s Gulf neighbour, Qatar. Awdah, who has 14 million followers on Twitter, posted a tweet on September 9, saying: “May God harmonise between their hearts for the good of their people” – an apparent call for reconciliation between the Gulf countries. Local daily
Okaz reported that the public prosecution, which represents the Saudi government, had levelled 37 counts against Awdah and called for the death penalty.
According to London-based Saudi rights group ALQST and other activists, some of the charges included incitement against the ruler and spreading discord.
Awdah’s son, Abdullah, wrote on Twitter that the charges against his father included critical tweets and establishing an organisation which worked to defend the honour of the Prophet Muhammad.
“Today, at a court hearing for my father Sheikh Salman al-Awdah, the prosecution requested the death penalty against him, and submitted 37 charges, one of which was establishing the al-Nusra organisation in Kuwait to defend the Prophet (PBUH), and being a member of the European Council for Fatwa and Research and the International Union of Muslim scholars, with other charges related to his tweets on Twitter.”
Amnesty International’s Saudi Arabia campaigner Dana Ahmed called the reports “a disturbing trend in the Kingdom [that] sends a horrifying message that peaceful dissent and expression may be met with the death penalty”.
Public prosecutors in Saudi Arabia are seeking the death penalty against prominent Muslim scholar Salman al-Awdah, local media, activists and his family members have said.
Awdah, who UN experts have described as a “reformist,” was imprisoned a year ago, shortly after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman launched a crackdown on dissent and imposed a land, sea and air blockade on the kingdom’s Gulf neighbour, Qatar. Awdah, who has 14 million followers on Twitter, posted a tweet on September 9, saying: “May God harmonise between their hearts for the good of their people” – an apparent call for reconciliation between the Gulf countries. Local daily
Okaz reported that the public prosecution, which represents the Saudi government, had levelled 37 counts against Awdah and called for the death penalty.
According to London-based Saudi rights group ALQST and other activists, some of the charges included incitement against the ruler and spreading discord.
Awdah’s son, Abdullah, wrote on Twitter that the charges against his father included critical tweets and establishing an organisation which worked to defend the honour of the Prophet Muhammad.
“Today, at a court hearing for my father Sheikh Salman al-Awdah, the prosecution requested the death penalty against him, and submitted 37 charges, one of which was establishing the al-Nusra organisation in Kuwait to defend the Prophet (PBUH), and being a member of the European Council for Fatwa and Research and the International Union of Muslim scholars, with other charges related to his tweets on Twitter.”
Amnesty International’s Saudi Arabia campaigner Dana Ahmed called the reports “a disturbing trend in the Kingdom [that] sends a horrifying message that peaceful dissent and expression may be met with the death penalty”.
