The Criminal Court in Dammam sentenced the renowned religious singer, Mohammed Bojbara, to nine months in prison on charges related to filming a video for a religious occasion during the 40-day commemoration of Imam Hussein.
Bojbara was arrested in October 2020, with eight other young men: Ali al-Abdul Mohsen, Mohammed Abdul Rasul, Mahmoud al-Sultan, Hany al-Qadi, Haidar Al Saleh, Ahmed al-Qurashi, Ahmed bin Ali al-Hajji, and Aoun al-Hajji.
The men were arrested for filming and participating in a video for Bojbara’s YouTube channel, in a remote area of al-Ahsa. The video was filmed during the commemoration of the 40 days of Imam Hussein, a Shia religious festival. The arrests contradict Saudi Arabia’s official promotion of change in its handling of religious freedoms and countering of extremism and sectarian discrimination.
The detainees were charged under the Anti-Cybercrime Law and faced a number of charges, including carrying banners, chanting religious slogans, and preparing, producing, and storing of material impinging on public order by filming video clips.
ESOHR stresses that the arrests of the nine young men are arbitrary and their prison sentences, based on charges related to the exercise of religious freedoms, are a violation of international law.
ESOHR also notes that, in this case, the Saudi government violated the right to peaceful assembly and expression of opinion, as the charges relate to posting public material on social media. Furthermore, by these arrests, the government violated the right to freedom of belief because the material for which the detainees are being punished relates to practicing religious rituals.
In addition, ESOHR points out that it has previously documented numerous violations of religious freedoms, such as the arrest of citizen Zuhair Bousaleh on charges of holding prayers. Likewise, the Saudi Public Prosecutor is currently seeking the death penalty against researcher Hassan Farhan al-Maliki against the backdrop of his religious opinions, in a step that belies claims by officials, especially Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, regarding countering extremism.
ESOHR believes that the prison sentences on the choir of Bojbara and his companions confirm the Saudi government’s deception in its recent steps where it claims religious openness, prevention of radicalization and extremism, and permission to hold events and the like.
All these steps come within a framework of propaganda and political promotion without serious steps on the ground that ensure all individuals the exercise of their religious rights and freedoms guaranteed under international law. ESOHR stresses that any arrest on the basis of practicing religious rituals or expressing opinions is an arbitrary arrest that must be ended immediately.