Saudi Supreme court rejects Sabat death sentence


The Supreme Court in Riyadh said that the death sentence for Ali  Hussein Sabat was not warranted because he had not harmed anyone and had no prior offences in the country, Okaz said.


Sabat, a 46-year-old father of five, was sentenced to death last November by a Medina court for practising witchcraft, illegal under Saudi Arabia’s Islamic sharia law.

He was arrested by the religious police in Medina, where he was on a pilgrimage.

The case against him was brought after he gave advice and made predictions on Lebanese television broadcast to Saudi Arabia via satellite.

In October, Amnesty International said it had appealed to King Abdullah in a letter to commute the death sentences for Sabat and Sudanese Abdul Hamid al-Fakki, also sentenced to death for sorcery.

The status of Fakki’s case was unknown. Timesonline

Photo: Ali  Hussein Sabat with his 2 kids