April 3,2010 - Daily Star -Lebanese man condemned to death for witchcraft in KSA.doc

Saudi 'witchcraft' beheading postponed




BEIRUT: A Lebanese man condemned to death for witchcraft by a Saudi court was not beheaded Friday as had been expected, his lawyer said.
Attorney May al-Khansa said Lebanon’s justice minister told her that her client, Ali Sabat, would not be executed in Saudi Arabia on Friday – the day executions are typically carried out in the kingdom.
She said it is still unclear whether the beheading had been waived or only postponed.
There was no immediate comment from Saudi officials, and Lebanese Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar was not available for comment.
“Ali Sabat will stay alive this Friday but we don’t know what is going to happen the next day, Saturday, Monday, any other day,” Khansa told The Associated Press.
“What the [justice] minister told us was not enough for the family, it is not enough for me, because we really need Ali Sabat to be released.”
Sabat, a 49-year-old father of five, made predictions on an Arab satellite TV channel from his home in Beirut.
He was arrested by the Saudi religious police during his pilgrimage to the holy city of Medina in May 2008 and sentenced to death last November for witchcraft.
The Saudi justice system, which is based on Islamic law, does not clearly define the charge of witchcraft.
Sabat is one of scores of people reported arrested every year in the kingdom for practicing sorcery, witchcraft, black magic and fortunetelling. The religious authorities in Saudi consider these practices polytheism.
Sabat’s wife, Samira, appealed to Saudi authorities to release her husband.
“He didn’t do anything wrong … he did not harm anyone,” she said tearfully. “If they want to do a humanitarian thing they will return him to his country.”
The lawyer added that she was slightly optimistic that the postponement of the execution meant Sabat would be released.
On Thursday, a dozen people rallied near the Saudi Embassy in Beirut to protest the impeding execution.
Human Rights Watch said last year that Sabat’s death sentence should be overturned and called on the Saudi government to halt its “increasing use of charges of ‘witchcraft,’ crimes that are vaguely defined and arbitrarily used.” –