Abdullah, son of Saudi preacher Salman al-Awda, has revealed a number of charges against his father and has asked the Saudi prosecution to kill him because of them.
Al-Awda said in a press statement that among the charges against his father were "not to pray for the guardian and that he received a message in his phone inciting the guardian."
Al-Awda added that the charges included the possession of books that were banned in his library, inciting sedition, joining the World Union of Muslim Scholars, and participating in the founding of the Nasra organization in Kuwait to defend the Prophet Muhammad after the crisis of cartoons.
Abdullah al-Awda, a postdoctoral researcher at Yale University, described the charges against Sheikh al-Awda as "shocking, ugly and very strange." The trial, which comes a year after the arrest, is shameless and lacks justice.
He added that "the authorities held the first session in secret because they violate all laws and is shamefully may expose Saudi Arabia to public opinion if it was made publicly."
The Saudi Public Prosecution requested the specialized criminal court for what it called the killing, in support of the well-known advocate Salman al-Awda, after the prosecution charged him with 37 counts of terrorism.
Abdullah al-Awda said the court specializes in state security issues, adding that the authorities have developed a special regime for what it calls terrorism cases that can detain the accused indefinitely and not enjoy the rights of other prisoners.
A few days ago, Abdullah revealed the deterioration of his father's health and the poor conditions of his detention. He said that his father had been handcuffed and footed for many months. He had been deprived of sleep for many days and fed him in bags that he opened with his mouth so that he could eat under the handcuffs. , And locked up in a darkened square-meter cell.
Arrest of preachers
Sheikh al-Awda was arrested in September 2017 with 20 other personalities, most of them preachers, because of what was said to be a gospel in which God called to "compose hearts" after the news of the telephone call between the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman.
Saudi Arabia has arrested about 100 individuals and has made secret arrests and their reasons. However, leaked information indicates that many detainees have been subjected to serious abuses, including torture, to get them to confess to crimes they have not committed or to abandon their positions critical of the authorities.
A few weeks ago, the Saudi authorities arrested Sheikh Saleh al-Talib, imam and preacher of the Grand Mosque. The account of the prisoners of conscience pointed out that the reason for the arrest was a sermon delivered by the fiancé of the Sacred Mosque.