by Kristian Coates Ulrichsen and Giorgio Cafiero
Last month, the London-based Middle East Eye reported that three Saudi religious scholars—Sheikh Salman al-Awdah, Awad al-Qarni, and Ali al-Omari—were going to receive the death penalty after the end of Ramadan. The report cited two sources in the
Saudi government and one of the detained Islamic scholar’s relatives.
Currently, Awdah, Qarni, and Omari are charged with terrorism and awaiting trial at the kingdom’s Criminal Special Court in Riyadh. The arrest of these three “moderate” clerics in September 2017 triggered a chorus of condemnation from abroad, including from the United Nations and numerous human rights organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Their detention occurred two months before the Ritz Carlton saga in which Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) ordered the arrest of scores of wealthy and prominent Saudi royals, merchants, and billionaire moguls during the infamous [...]