Middle East: Saudi Arabia prepares to execute these three preachers after Ramadan

The Saudi authorities are on the point of ordering the execution of three prominent advocates and their execution after the end of the holy month of Ramadan, the Middle East Internet site said in a special report.

The website said the three preachers are Sheikh Salman al-Awda, Sheikh Awad al-Qarni and Sheikh Ali al-Amri. The report quoted two government sources and one of their relatives.

The Saudi authorities arrested the three in a campaign against scientists, preachers and opinion leaders in September 2017 and began to try them in secret sessions. The prosecution demanded the killing of the three preachers "Taizira" on charges of terrorism.

Sheikh Salman al-Awda's lawyers said in February they feared he would be sentenced to death. In a statement issued in Paris, lawyers Marc Jonan, Francois Zimrai and Jessica Vinel said the return trial was part of a policy of judicial persecution by Saudi authorities against intellectuals exercising their right to freedom of expression and opinion.

On the other hand, the Francophone Society for Human Rights said mid-month that it learned from sources and described it with the approval of the intention of the Saudi authorities to carry out the execution of human rights activists and forensic scientists detained in its prisons since different periods.

The Saudi authorities intend to carry out the executions after Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr after the defendants were convicted of terrorism and threatened the kingdom's national security, the association said in a statement.