Saudi Arabia Sentences Poet to Death for “Renouncing Islam”

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A Palestinian poet and leading member of Saudi Arabia’s nascent contemporary art scene has been sentenced to death for renouncing Islam. 

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.

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.

The case highlights the tensions between hardline religious conservatives and the small but growing number of artists and activists who are tentatively pushing the boundaries of freedom of speech in Saudi Arabia, where cinema is banned and there are no art schools. 

– From the Guardian article: Saudi Court Sentences Poet to Death for Renouncing Islam

If ISIS had sentenced an internationally renowned poet to death on trumped up charges of “renouncing Islam,” it would be highlighted endlessly across Western media until the public was sufficiently salivating for war against the latest CIA-invented enemy.

When one of America’s closest allies does it…not so much.

It wasn’t long ago that I commented on a separate example of Saudi barbarism related to the case of Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, a teenager sentenced to death by crucifixion for political dissent. Here’s a quick summary from that post:

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