Saudi Court Overturns Death Sentence Against Palestinian Poet Ashraf Fayadh, convicted of apostasy, is sentenced to eight years in prison and 800 lashes instead By Ahmed Al Omran
http://www.wsj.com/articles/saudi-court-overturns-death-sentence-against-palestinian-poet-1454436646
RIYADH—A Saudi court on Tuesday overturned a death sentence against a Palestinian poet convicted of apostasy and imposed an eight-year prison term and 800 lashes instead.
A court in the southwestern city of Abha also ordered the poet, Ashraf Fayadh, to repent and renounce his poetry on official state media, his lawyer Abdulrahman al-Lahim said.
Mr. Lahim said his client, 35 years old, was innocent of the charges against him and would appeal the latest sentence. He also said he had asked the court to release Mr. Fayadh from jail on bail, pending the outcome of his appeal.
This was the latest Saudi freedom-of-expression case in recent months to be met with a harsh sentence. It has become a flashpoint for criticism from international free-speech and human-rights groups, which have called on the Gulf kingdom to free Mr. Fayadh since his detention in January 2014.
His legal troubles over the past two years have shown Saudi Arabia’s struggle to overhaul its judicial system, which remains opaque and dominated by conservative judges who enjoy a wide leeway to interpret the Islamic religious code known as Shariah to reach their verdicts in the absence of a written penal code.
Mr. Fayadh, a Saudi-born Palestinian who has been active in recent years in the nascent contemporary arts scene here, was first detained by Saudi police in August 2013 following a complaint that he had cursed Allah and the Prophet Muhammad, insulted Saudi Arabia and distributed his poetry that promoted atheism.
He was released after one day, then rearrested on Jan. 1, 2014. Five months later, a general court in Abha convicted him of apostasy and sentenced him to four years in prison and 800 lashes. He was also convicted of having illicit relationships with women by storing their photos on his phone.
An appeals court later rejected Mr. Fayadh’s appeal of his conviction and returned his case to the general court, where a new panel of judges sentenced him to death in November.
In court papers filed in January, Mr. Lahim said Mr. Fayadh’s conviction was based on uncorroborated evidence and ignored indications that he was suffering from a mental illness.
Rights groups condemned the latest court ruling.
“No one should face arrest for peacefully expressing opinions, much less corporal punishment and prison,” said Adam Coogle, a Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Saudi justice officials must urgently intervene to vacate this unjust sentence.”
Write to Ahmed Al Omran at Ahmed.AlOmran@wsj.com
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