Saudi Arabia Arrests Famous Quran Reciter
RIYADH (Dispatches) – The Saudi regime has arrested Sheikh Abdullah Basfar, one of the famous Quran reciters across the Islamic world, the Prisoners of Conscience has revealed on Twitter.
The Prisoners of Conscience Twitter account conveyed that the sheikh was arrested in August, without giving more details on how and where he was arrested.
"We confirm the detention of Sheikh Dr Abdullah Basfar since August 2020,” the Prisoners of Conscience account posted.
Basfar is an associate professor at the department of Sharia and Islamic Studies at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah. He is also the former Secretary-General of the World Book and Sunnah Organization.
The reports about the detention of Sheikh Basfar coincided with reports about the detention of Sheikh Saud Al-Funaisan, who was arrested in March.
Al-Funaisan is a university professor and a former dean of the faculty of Sharia at Al-Imam University in Riyadh.
Since 2017, when the crown prince took power, he has been cracking down on clerics, journalists, academics and cyber activists over their critical views on his manner of ruling the country and.
In another development, a court in Saudi Arabia sentenced to prison six men - mainly writers, academics and journalists - arbitrarily detained in bin Salman’s 2017 crackdown on dissent, activists said.
The men were handed down sentences ranging from three to seven years by the special criminal court. Activists say the harsh sentences show the emptiness of the kingdom’s much-touted social reforms.
"These prison sentences handed down against several writers and journalists are based on nothing more than their freedom of expression, namely tweeting in support of human rights,” Yahya Assiri, a Saudi Arabian human rights activist, told Middle East Eye.
"The specialized criminal court is well known for its disregard of basic legal safeguards, and the counter-terrorism law under which prominent writer Abdullah al-Maliki was tried has been frequently used to criminalize peaceful acts.”
Last year, the United Nations Human Rights Council’s working group on arbitrary detention found that the kingdom was failing to comply with international norms on arbitrary detention, torture and enforced disappearances.
The Prisoners of Conscience Twitter account conveyed that the sheikh was arrested in August, without giving more details on how and where he was arrested.
"We confirm the detention of Sheikh Dr Abdullah Basfar since August 2020,” the Prisoners of Conscience account posted.
Basfar is an associate professor at the department of Sharia and Islamic Studies at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah. He is also the former Secretary-General of the World Book and Sunnah Organization.
The reports about the detention of Sheikh Basfar coincided with reports about the detention of Sheikh Saud Al-Funaisan, who was arrested in March.
Al-Funaisan is a university professor and a former dean of the faculty of Sharia at Al-Imam University in Riyadh.
Since 2017, when the crown prince took power, he has been cracking down on clerics, journalists, academics and cyber activists over their critical views on his manner of ruling the country and.
In another development, a court in Saudi Arabia sentenced to prison six men - mainly writers, academics and journalists - arbitrarily detained in bin Salman’s 2017 crackdown on dissent, activists said.
The men were handed down sentences ranging from three to seven years by the special criminal court. Activists say the harsh sentences show the emptiness of the kingdom’s much-touted social reforms.
"These prison sentences handed down against several writers and journalists are based on nothing more than their freedom of expression, namely tweeting in support of human rights,” Yahya Assiri, a Saudi Arabian human rights activist, told Middle East Eye.
"The specialized criminal court is well known for its disregard of basic legal safeguards, and the counter-terrorism law under which prominent writer Abdullah al-Maliki was tried has been frequently used to criminalize peaceful acts.”
Last year, the United Nations Human Rights Council’s working group on arbitrary detention found that the kingdom was failing to comply with international norms on arbitrary detention, torture and enforced disappearances.