Palestinian poet and artist Ashraf Fayadh scheduled for execution today in Saudi Arabia – Mondoweiss

15.1.16

Palestinian poet and artist Ashraf Fayadh scheduled for execution today in Saudi Arabia – Mondoweiss: The reasons for Fayadh’s arrest and imprisonment are contested, emanating from a personal dispute with another artist which escalated into the larger accusation of apostasy and blasphemy, including by the Saudi religious police. In addition, his 2008 book of poems, Instructions Within, was cited as promulgating “atheism and destructive thoughts.”

Poets, artists, and intellectuals from the Arab world and throughout the world have been speaking out, writing articles, signing petitions, and calling for Fayadh’s acquittal. In February 2014, one hundred Arab intellectuals demanded his release from Saudi prison. The PEN American Center sent a letter to President Obama in December 2015 calling on him to press Saudi Arabia’s ruler, King Salman, to release Fayadh. Experts, however, do not expect the United States—which has close ties with Saudi Arabia—to exert any pressure on the kingdom to overturn Fayadh’s sentence.