Pak Sahafat – The Saudi court, following the suppression of critics of the country’s monarchy, sentenced law professor and university activist “Awad Al-Qarni” to death on the charge of enmity against the country by sending messages and tweets through the application software “WhatsApp” and “Twitter”.
According to Pak Sahafat News Agency, Al-Khalij Al-Jadeed news site quoted British “Guardian” newspaper as saying: Al-Qarni, a law professor, has admitted that he used his account in social networks named (awadalqarni) to express his opinions on every occasion.
He has also admitted to participating in WhatsApp chats and using the Telegram application.
According to the Guardian, in response to this issue, the court of Saudi Arabia issued his death sentence and accused “Al-Qarni” of “enmity with Saudi Arabia” and praising the Muslim Brotherhood.
Over the years, Al-Qarni has been branded a “dangerous preacher” in Saudi state-controlled media, but critics say he is an important and respected thinker with more than two million followers on social media.
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“Nasser” son of Al-Qarni had previously announced by publishing leaflets that since the beginning of the rule of “Mohammed bin Salman”, the Saudi crown prince who controls the pillars of power in Saudi Arabia, the use of social media and other forms of communication inside the country has been considered a crime.
According to this newspaper, the Saudi government and investors controlled by the Saudi government have recently increased their financial stakes in American social networks, including Twitter and Facebook, as well as entertainment companies such as Disney.
“Jed Basiouni”, a lawyer in the Middle East and North Africa section of the human rights organization “Reprieve” said: based on what this organization has learned from the Al-Qarni case, scientists and academics in Saudi Arabia are subject to the death penalty for sending tweets and expressing their opinions.
He was surprised that the prosecutor ordered the killing of people because of their opinions, tweets, and speeches based on Bin Salman’s advice, and added: “They (critics) are not dangerous and do not want the regime to be overthrown.”
Since coming to power in the summer of 2017, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has overseen a massive crackdown on his opponents.
Saudi authorities arrested 65-year-old al-Qarni in September 2017 when they arrested dozens of scholars, academics and independent activists.
Saudi authorities have raised charges against these detainees, including disobeying the government, attacking friendly countries, spying for foreign parties, trying to create conflict and destabilize the country’s security, financing terrorist organizations abroad, and belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood.
In this link, cyberspace users reacted to the actions of the Saudi regime in honoring singers of vulgar songs and imprisoning religious scholars.
Al-Ghafili, a Saudi user, posted a picture of Saleh Al-Shami, a religious missionary, and Hamu Bika, a singer of vulgar songs, on Twitter: In Balad Haramin Sharifin, Hamo Bika, who was expelled from the Egyptian artists’ association due to his vulgar songs, is honored with a gold sword, but Saleh al-Shami, a scholar of hadith, is thrown into prison.
According to the human rights organization “Sand”, 88-year-old Muhaddith Saleh al-Shami of Syrian origin has been in Al Saud prison for the past three months as part of the campaign to arrest Syrians living in Saudi Arabia.