A leading human rights group on the monitoring of prisoners in Saudi Arabia said on Friday that the verdict against prominent preacher Awad al-Qarni will be issued on Sunday, while the son of Salman al-Odah said that his father's sentence will be issued on the 30th of this month, amid talk about the arrest of prominent figures critical of the entertainment authority.
Prisoners of conscience said the Riyadh Specialized Terrorism Court set Sunday October 27 as the date for the verdict against al-Qarni after several urgent hearings.
Al-Qarni has been detained since September 2017, along with other preachers and activists in the Kingdom, most notably preacher Salman al-Awda and academic Ali al-Omari, amid demands from local and international figures and organizations for their release.
The authorities in Saudi Arabia charge the detainees with "breaking the guardian", "violating friendly countries" (referring to criticism of some of the detainees to the UAE), communicating with foreign parties, seeking to foment strife and destabilizing state security, as well as "financing terrorist entities outside the kingdom". And "belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood." Detainees deny the charges.
About two weeks ago, Abdullah, the son of preacher Salman al-Awda, said his father's sentence was decided on Wednesday (October 30th).
Meanwhile, a political rally in Saudi Arabia said authorities arrested six people, including an academic, a tribal sheikh and prominent poets, within a week for criticizing the entertainment authority.
This came in a series of tweets for the account of "prisoners of conscience" through his Twitter account.
The Saudi authorities do not disclose the numbers of people detained on the basis of freedom of opinion in their prisons, and do not allow human rights institutions to visit them or to see their conditions.
The authorities arrested the poet of the al-Shararat tribe, Ayed Raghyan al-Sharari, the account of the prisoners of conscience said on Thursday.
Al-Shararat tribe poet Ayed Raghan Al-Warda Al-Sharari published a tweet on the 18th of this month that included criticism of the activities of the Entertainment Authority and the amusement parks it does not know.
In a tweet on Wednesday, the account revealed the arrest of Sheikh Abdul Rahman al-Mahmoud, a faculty member at the University of Imam (Riyadh), on Tuesday, and is currently in Dhahban prison (Jeddah).
He said that "the arrest came on the order of Turki Al-Sheikh (Chairman of the Entertainment Authority) after the spread of an old section dating back to 2017, denouncing allowing those who fools called to spread corruption in society."
On Tuesday, the account revealed that the authorities "arrested the Sheikh of the tribe Otaiba, Faisal bin Sultan bin Jahjah, on the back of a series of tweets published and expressed his opinion on the practices of Turki Al-Sheikh through the Entertainment Authority."
On Monday, the account said authorities had "arrested the poet Safar al-Dghailbi, on the basis of a poem that contained indirect references to the practices of Turki al-Sheikh," after the first antagonized the investigation.
On the same day, he also referred to the arrest of the poet Hamoud al-Subaie after he published a video of a poem criticizing Turki Al-Sheikh, along with a young man named consul Suba'i who designed the video for him.
According to the same calculation, "the total number of those who have been identified as prisoners of conscience since September 2017 rose to more than 110 figures, in addition to about 50 Palestinian residents, and a number of residents of other nationalities."
In 2017, Saudi Arabia began a campaign of arrests targeting prominent academic and religious names, including Salman al-Awda, Nasser al-Omar, Awad al-Qarni, and Ali al-Omari, as well as the arrest of poets and intellectuals for years, for violating the ruling authority.