Why was the former Imam of Mecca Masjid sentenced to 10 years in Saudi Arabia? furious people

The former Imam of Mecca Masjid in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to 10 years in prison by a court. Imam was in jail since 2018 and a Saudi court had decided to release him. But the Saudi Court of Appeal reversed the decision of the previous court and sentenced him to 10 years in prison.

Staff Editor Staff Editor
Aug 27, 2022 - 00:23
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Why was the former Imam of Mecca Masjid sentenced to 10 years in Saudi Arabia? furious people

The former Imam of Mecca Masjid in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Imam was already in jail and a Saudi court had ruled to release him. Now the Saudi Court of Appeal, overturning the decision of the previous court, sentenced the former Imam to 10 years in prison.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) has come under fire from many right-wing Islamic scholars and organizations in Saudi Arabia ever since he made several changes to project a liberal image of his country. There have also been demonstrations against the Crown Prince in the last few days, after which many people involved in him have also been arrested.

Sheikh Saleh al-Talib, 48, who had been an imam at a major mosque in Mecca, was arrested in August 2018 without giving any official reason. At that time he was the Imam in the Masjid of Mecca.

However, a social media group Prisoners of Conscience told that the former Imam was arrested for a sermon he gave in the mosque. Abdullah Alaud, spokesman of the Dawn (Democracy for arab world now) organization in Saudi Arabia, condemned the 10-year sentence given to the former Imam. Regarding the punishment given to former Imam Sheikh Saleh Al Talib, he said that the same is being done to any religious leader who is speaking against starting music concerts, sporting events and entertainment in Saudi.

Abdullah Alaud, spokesman of the Dawn (Democracy for arab world now) organization in Saudi Arabia, condemned the 10-year sentence given to the former Imam. Regarding the punishment given to former Imam Sheikh Saleh Al Talib, he said that the same is being done to any religious leader who is speaking against starting music concerts, sporting events and entertainment in Saudi.

Punished for speaking on social changes

The organization's spokesman Abdullah further said that the 10-year sentence given to the Imam of Mecca's Big Mosque for speaking on social changes clearly shows that the Saudi Crown Prince is intimidating every opposing group.

Abdullah further said that these political prisoners, including Imam al-Talib, caught in the past days have similarities in that all of them had calmly expressed their opinion and were arrested.

Many religious gurus who have been arrested so far

Let us tell you that since the year 2017 till now, a large number of religious leaders have been arrested in Saudi Arabia. All these religious gurus, in some way or another, were trying to raise their voices on different issues.

In fact, Mohammed bin Salman was crowned Saudi Crown Prince in 2017, after which dozens of imams, women and several members of the Royal Family were taken into custody. These people also include famous Islamic religious leaders Salman Al Awadh, Awadh Al Karni, Farhan Al Malki, Mustafa Hasan and Safar Al Hawali.

Among the arrested religious leaders, Al Awadh and Al Karni have millions of followers on social media. Both were arrested in September 2017 on charges of belonging to a terrorist organization.

People furious over 10-year sentence for former Imam

People have expressed their displeasure on social media about the 10-year sentence given to the former Imam. A user Abu Suleiman said that he always speaks the truth, that is why he has been kept in jail. The user further said that Imam Al Talib had spoken about the wrong things happening in Saudi.

At the same time, another user said that if the Imam, who teaches Friday Namaz, cannot say about good and bad and cannot call for reform, then what is their work.

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