Riyadh: A 66-year-old Saudi preacher and academic Awad bin Mohammed Al-Qarni, has been handed a death sentence for using social media platforms— Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram, to spread news considered “hostile” to the Kingdom, local media reported.
Al-Qarni was arrested in September 2017 as part of a campaign of arrests that included at least 20 people, including the prominent preacher, Salman al-Awda.
British newspaper stated that it had seen Saudi court documents and details of the charges against Al-Qarni by his son, Nasser, who fled the Kingdom in 2022 and is currently living in the United Kingdom after requesting protection.
A charges against Al-Qarni, include an admission that he used a Twitter account under his name (@awadalqarni) and used it “at every opportunity … to express his views.”
Court documents also indicate that he “confessed” to participating in a WhatsApp conversation, and was accused of participating in videos praising the Muslim Brotherhood.
The charge of creating an account and apparently using the Telegram app, Al-Qarni, was also included in the allegations.
Who is Awad Al-Qarni?
Awad Al-Qarni, a Saudi preacher and academic who worked at Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University and King Khalid University. He focused on law and wrote several books on Islamic jurisprudence and the Palestinian issue.
He is also a trainer in neuro-linguistic programming and heads a Saudi federation on the same subject, according to the website of the International Union of Muslim Scholars.
Al-Qarni presented a statement along with 25 other clerics condemning the 2003 invasion of Iraq and another statement expressing solidarity with the Palestinians.
New crackdown
Saudi human rights advocates and dissidents living in exile have warned that the authorities in the kingdom are engaged in a new and severe crackdown on individuals perceived to be critical of the Saudi government.
This is not the first time the kingdom has punished someone for using social media.
In August 2022, a woman named Salma Al-Shehab was sentenced to 34 years in prison for having a Twitter account and for posting tweets about activists and critics of the Mohammed bin Salman regime.
In 2022, the Kingdom executed 147 people, including the mass execution of 81 in one day, according to the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights.
A Germany-based group says at least 61 people face the death penalty as of December 2022, adding that the actual number is likely higher.
