TV presenter and ‘magician of female TV presenters’ face beheading

Amnesty International is warning that two men in Saudi Arabia are facing execution after being convicted in relation to “sorcery” accusations.

The human rights organisation has launched an “urgent action” appeal and its supporters are contacting the Saudi authorities - including King ‘Abdullah Bin ‘Abdul ‘Aziz Al-Saud - to try to avert the killings.

One of the men, Ali Hussain Sibat, a 46-year-old father of five, is a presenter on a Lebanese satellite television station “Sheherazade”, where he gives advice and makes predictions about the future. In May last year, while in Saudi Arabia on a pilgrimage, he was arrested in his hotel room in the western city of Medina by the Saudi religious police, the Mutawa’een. His lawyer in Lebanon believes he was arrested because the Mutawa’een had recognised him from his TV programme

After a secret trial without a lawyer, Ali Hussain Sibat was sentenced to death on 9 November. Amnesty has received reports that the charges were based on an accusation that he had engaged in "sorcery", apparently related to his TV career. His interrogators had told him to write down what he did for a living, reassuring him that he would then be allowed to go home soon. However this document was presented in court as a "confession" and used to convict him.

Meanwhile, in July, a court in the northern Saudi city of Hail sentenced another man to death in relation to "sorcery." The man, who has appealed against his sentence, is unidentified but Saudi media reports have called him “the magician of female TV presenters” because the names of television presenters were found among graffiti on the walls of his house. The Mutawa’een raided his home on 22 February and reportedly found the walls covered in 100,000 words of graffiti, including distorted Koranic verses. Little is known about his trial, but the court apparently convicted him of “apostasy” rather than “sorcery” as he was considered "a beginner in the work of sorcery."

Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said:

“Saudi Arabia already has an appalling record of executing people after bogus trials, but these cases are a disturbing new twist.
 
“Outside of the pages of Harry Potter books, few people in the modern world believe in sorcery.
 
“It’s shocking that any legal case - never mind a capital case - could be mounted on so spurious a basis; it’s now gravely urgent that the Saudi authorities come to their senses and halt these executions.”
International is warning that two men in Saudi Arabia are facing execution after being convicted in relation to “sorcery” accusations.

The human rights organisation has launched an “urgent action” appeal and its supporters are contacting the Saudi authorities - including King ‘Abdullah Bin ‘Abdul ‘Aziz Al-Saud - to try to avert the killings.