Riyadh sentences reformist leader to death for 'criticism' on social media

Awad al-Qarni, an Islam expert and law professor, was arrested in 2017 in the early days of the crackdown that followed bin Salman's rise to power. From exile in Britain, his son recounts the circumstances of the arrest and fears over the possible enforcement of the sentence. He exhausted 'all possible means' to obtain his release. 

Riyadh (AsiaNews) - A Saudi Islam expert and law professor has been sentenced to death (also) for "expressing opinions critical" of the Riyadh leadership on the internet and social networks. Reformist cleric Awad al-Qarni is accused of using the various platforms - from Twitter to Facebook, from Whatsapp to Telegram - to spread dissent, especially by creating an account through which he could convey news deemed 'hostile' to the Wahhabi kingdom. 

The 65-year-old professor, reports the Guardian, which interviewed his son who fled to the UK, was arrested in 2017, coinciding with the start of the crackdown on internal dissent imposed by the new crown prince (now also prime minister) Mohammed bin Salman. A crackdown that targeted intellectuals, journalists, rivals within the royal families, businessmen and ordinary activists. Before the detention, Qarni had about two million followers on Twitter and was appreciated for his critical, but at the same time detailed and balanced interventions.

Qarni's son Nasser, who has applied for asylum in Britain and fears revenge from Riyadh, reported the circumstances that led to his parent's arrest. 'Over a hundred men armed with machine guns and pistols,' he recounts, 'surrounded the house. They forcibly prevented us from entering" and the area "resembled a battlefield". Among the other charges against the professor was that of praising the Muslim Brotherhood in a video, and for all the charges he was given the death penalty.

Court documents shared by his son show the increasing 'criminalisation' of social media since bin Salman's rise to power. There is also the systematic use of psycho-physical torture and ill-treatment of detainees to extract confessions or admissions of crimes never committed. 'We, in Saudi Arabia, have exhausted,' says Nasser, 'all possible means to obtain my father's release and stop the oppression he is suffering. Unfortunately, the country is failing not only in terms of human rights, but in all social, economic and political areas' in spite of the leadership's proclamations. 

Last year, Saudi authorities sentenced a young woman to 34 years in prison for relaying on her Twitter account messages from activists calling for greater freedoms and sharing posts in favour of women's right to drive. A doctoral student at the University of Leeds Salma al-Shehab was arrested in January 2021 on her return to Saudi Arabia for a short holiday; her sentence and conviction confirmed the stranglehold on freedoms and rights, in spite of Mohammad bin Salman's 'reformist' proclamations, which mostly touch on the economic sphere and the entertainment industry.

• Saudi Arabia
• Islam
• bin Salman
• Awad al-Qarni
• reformism
• social
• human rights
• freedom of expression
• fundamentalism