Saudi court sentences poet to death for renouncing Islam
A Palestinian poet and leading member of Saudi Arabia's nascent contemporary art scene has been sentenced to death for renouncing Islam. A Saudi court on Tuesday ordered the execution of Ashraf Fayadh, who has curated art shows in Jeddah and at the Venice Biennale. The poet, who said he did not have legal representation, was given 30 days to appeal against the ruling.
Fayadh, 35, a key member of the British-Saudi art organisation Edge of Arabia, was originally sentenced to four years in prison and 800 lashes by the general court in Abha, a city in the south-west of the ultraconservative kingdom, in May 2014. But after his appeal was dismissed he was retried last month and a new panel of judges ruled that his repentance did not prevent his execution.
"I was really shocked but it was expected, though I didn't do anything that deserves death", Fayadh told the Guardian.
Mona Kareem, a migrant rights activist from Kuwait who has led a campaign for the poet's release, said: "For one and a half years they promised him an appeal and kept intimidating him that there's new evidence. He was unable to assign a lawyer because his ID was confiscated when he was arrested [in January 2014]. Then they said you must have a retrial and we'll change the prosecutor and the judges. The new judge didn't even talk to him, he just made the verdict."
Fayadh's supporters believe he is being punished by hardliners for posting a video online showing the religious police (mutaween) in Abha lashing a man in public. "Some Saudis think this was revenge by the morality police", said Kareem. Kareem also believes that Fayadh has been targeted because he is a Palestinian refugee, although he was born in Saudi Arabia.
Source: The Guardian