Saudi beheading for opposing banning of music?

This 16 February 2018 video, in Arabic with English subtitles, says about itself:

Male-female interaction (free mixing) allowed in Islam (Shaykh Hasan ibn Farhan al-Maliki)

Translated from Dutch NOS TV today:

“Saudi Arabia wants to kill religious reformer for his ideas about Islam”

Human Rights Watch warns that the Saudi authorities want to impose the death penalty on a moderate religious thinker based on a series of vague indictments. The Islamic cleric has been detained since September 2017, according to the human rights organization because he is calling for reform of religious rules in Saudi Arabia.

This Hassan Farhan al-Maliki is said to have criticized, eg, clergy who ban music. He is said also have argued for freedom of religion. His opponents believe that his ideas are in conflict with Wahabism, the conservative tendency of Islam followed in Saudi Arabia.

According to Human Rights Watch, the Saudi authorities call him an extremist who has insulted the rulers of the country.

“Does not match with statements of crown prince”

The prosecution of the clergyman is not in line with the statements by Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, human rights activists say. Bin Salman has said that he wants to introduce a more moderate version of Islam into Saudi Arabia and thus open up the country to the rest of the world.

“Reforms only really take place if thinkers like al-Maliki can express themselves freely without fear of being arrested or even executed“, says Human Rights Watch.

“Now the Saudi authorities want to put a man to death because he criticizes clergy who ban music. Meanwhile, Saudi leaders pay millions to public relations corporations to show how progressive they are by allowing concerts by western artists in Saudi Arabia.”

More criticism

International criticism has been made of the reform policy announced by the Saudi crown prince two years ago. Critics say that little has changed in practice and point to all the intellectuals and clerics who have been arrested since bin Salman said he wants to introduce a more moderate Islam.

Including jailing the women activists who made it possible for women to drive cars in torture prisons, threatening them with beheading.

The crown prince was also criticized for having been involved in the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and Saudi Arabia still fighting the war in neighboring Yemen.

TRUMP DEFENDS ‘BIG BUYER’ SAUDI ARABIA President Donald Trump shrugged off his own government’s report that Saudi Arabian leadership ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, stressing that the Middle Eastern kingdom is a “big buyer” of U.S. products. [HuffPost]

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