{"id":67006,"date":"2015-11-30T12:00:27","date_gmt":"2015-11-30T12:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=67006"},"modified":"2015-11-30T00:36:41","modified_gmt":"2015-11-30T00:36:41","slug":"saudi-court-sentences-poet-to-death-for-renouncing-islam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2015\/11\/saudi-court-sentences-poet-to-death-for-renouncing-islam\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Court Sentences Poet to Death for Renouncing Islam"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friends of Palestinian Ashraf Fayadh believe he is being punished for posting video showing religious police lashing a man in public.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Ashraf<\/a>

Ashraf Fayadh, right, with art historian Chris Dercon, outgoing director of Tate Modern, attend the opening of an exhibition in Jeddah curated by Ashraf Fayadh. Photograph: Ashraff Ayadh\/Instagram<\/p><\/div>\n

20 Nov 2015 – <\/em>A Palestinian poet and leading member of Saudi Arabia\u2019s nascent contemporary art scene has been sentenced to death for renouncing Islam.<\/p>\n

A Saudi court on Tuesday ordered the execution of Ashraf Fayadh, who has curated art shows in Jeddah<\/a> and at the Venice Biennale<\/a>. The poet, who said he did not have legal representation, was given 30 days to appeal against the ruling.<\/p>\n

Fayadh, 35, a key member of the British-Saudi art organisation Edge of Arabia<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

But after his appeal was dismissed he was retried earlier this month and a new panel of judges ruled that his repentance did not prevent his execution.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really shocked but it was expected, though I didn\u2019t do anything that deserves death,\u201d Fayadh told the Guardian.<\/p>\n

\"Ashraf<\/a>

Ashraf Fayadh on YouTube. Photograph: YouTube<\/p><\/div>\n

Mona Kareem, a migrant rights activist from Kuwait who has led a campaign for the poet\u2019s release, said: \u201cFor one and a half years they promised him an appeal and kept intimidating him that there\u2019s new evidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe 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\u2019ll change the prosecutor and the judges. The new judge didn\u2019t even talk to him, he just made the verdict.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fayadh\u2019s supporters believe he is being punished by hardliners for posting a video online showing the religious police (mutaween<\/em>) in Abha lashing a man in public. \u201cSome Saudis think this was revenge by the morality police,\u201d said Kareem.<\/p>\n

Kareem also believes that Fayadh has been targeted because he is a Palestinian refugee, although he was born in Saudi Arabia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The religious police first detained Fayadh in August 2013 after receiving a complaint that he was cursing against Allah and the prophet Muhammad, insulting Saudi Arabia and distributing a book of his poems<\/a> that promoted atheism. Fayadh said the complaint arose from a personal dispute with another artist during a discussion about contemporary art in a cafe in Abha.<\/p>\n

He was released on bail after one day but the police arrested him again on 1 January 2014, confiscating his ID and detaining him at a police station until he was transferred to the local prison 27 days later. According to Fayadh\u2019s friends, when the police failed to prove that his poetry was atheist propaganda, they began berating him for smoking and having long hair.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey accused me [of] atheism and spreading some destructive thoughts into society,\u201d said Fayadh. He added that the book, Instructions Within, published in 2008, was \u201cjust about me being [a] Palestinian refugee \u2026 about cultural and philosophical issues. But the religious extremists explained it as destructive ideas against God.\u201d<\/p>\n

The case went to trial in February 2014 when the complainant and two members of the religious police told the court that Fayadh had publicly blasphemed, promoted atheism to young people and conducted illicit relationships with women and stored some of their photographs on his mobile phone.<\/p>\n

Fayadh denied the accusations of blasphemy and told the court he was a faithful Muslim. According to the court documents, he said: \u201cI am repentant to God most high and am innocent of what appeared in my book mentioned in this case.\u201d<\/p>\n

The documents also state that he admitted that he had relationships with the women. But Fayadh said his words had been twisted: the women were fellow artists and the photos on his phone, some of which he posted on Instagram, were taken during Jeddah art week, Saudi Arabia\u2019s most important contemporary art event.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>

An image from Ashraf Fayadh\u2019s Instagram account.<\/p><\/div>\n

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. Abha, which has become a hub for contemporary Saudi art<\/a>, has been a focal point for these disputes in recent years. An anonymous collective of film-makers who set up a secret cinema in the city in October 2012<\/a> received death threats from hardliners.<\/p>\n

The kingdom\u2019s best known contemporary artist, Ahmed Mater, who lives in Abha and testified in Fayadh\u2019s defence at his first trial, said: \u201cAshraf is well known in Abha and the whole of Saudi Arabia. We are all praying for his release.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephen Stapleton, co-founder of Edge of Arabia, said Fayadh had been a key figure taking Saudi contemporary art to a global audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was instrumental to introducing Saudi contemporary art to Britain and connecting Tate Modern to the emerging scene,\u201d said Stapleton. \u201cHe curated a major show in Jeddah in 2013 and co-curated a show at the Venice Biennale<\/a> later that year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve known him since 2003. He\u2019s a truly wonderful, kind person. He\u2019s an intellectual and creative but he\u2019s not an atheist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam Coogle, a Middle East researcher for Human Rights Watch, said Fayadh\u2019s death sentence showed Saudi Arabia\u2019s \u201ccomplete intolerance of anyone who may not share government-mandated religious, political and social views\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trial records in this case indicate clear due process violations, including charges that do not resemble recognisable crimes and lack of access to legal assistance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis case is yet another black mark on Saudi Arabia\u2019s dismal human rights record in 2015, which includes the public flogging of liberal blogger Raif Badawi<\/a> in January and a death sentence for Ali al-Nimr<\/a>, a Saudi man accused of protest-related activities allegedly committed before he was 18 years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Saudi Arabia wishes to improve its human rights record it must release Fayadh and overhaul its justice system to prevent all prosecutions solely for peaceful speech \u2013 especially those that result in beheading.\u201d<\/p>\n

____________________________________<\/p>\n

David Batty is a news editor and reporter. His specialist areas are visual art, higher education, the Middle East and social affairs. He has worked at the<\/em> Guardian since 2001 and was previously a health correspondent.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 theguardian.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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