Fez - Saudi Arabia’s Specialized Criminal Court sentenced Zouhair Kutbi, a Saudi Arabian writer and activist, to four years in prison on Monday for calling for political reforms and for fighting “religious repression” in Saudi Arabia.
During an interview with Kutbi on Rotana Khaleejia TV back on June 22, the Saudi writer said, “Regionalism and racism are part of Saudi Arabia’s identity and the identity of Saudi Arabian people.”
Deploring the situation, he added, “We should not lie to ourselves and pretend that we are perfect angels.”
Kutbi also claimed that he had been admitted to an insane asylum because of having sent a letter to King Fahd bin Abdelaziz in 1990, calling on him to make political reforms in the country.
Police arrested Kutbi on July 15 after his statements had attracted attention, especially on YouTube.
The court issued a guilty verdict on Sunday, and sentenced the writer to four years in prison, two years of which were suspended, and in addition banning him from writing for 15 years, travelling abroad for five years, and imposing a fine of $26,600.
Kutbi is known for his courage in calling for changes in religious discourse based on rejecting “the other” and propagating hate in Saudi Arabia.
In 2005, during the fifth National Dialogue meeting under the theme “Us and the Other” at the King Abdelaziz Center, he said” our Saudi people have a high propensity for rejecting the other both at home and abroad.”
He suggested, ”if we want to live side by side, we have to be realistic. We must stop inventing theories. We must stop fooling ourselves.”
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