Saudi Arabia arrests prominent cleric — social media

DUBAI: A prominent Saudi religious leader has been arrested, according to social media postings, in what appears to be a crackdown on Islamists seen as critics of the conservative kingdom’s absolute rulers.

Sheikh Salman al-Awdah, an influential cleric who was imprisoned from 1994-99 for agitating for political change and has 14 million followers on Twitter, appears to have been detained over the weekend, the posting suggested.

In one of his last postings on Twitter, he welcomed a report on Friday suggesting that a threemonth-old row between Qatar and four Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia may be resolved.

“May God harmonise between their hearts for the good of their people,” Awdah said on Twitter after a report of a telephone call between Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim Hamad al-Thani and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Salman to discuss ways to resolve the rift which began in June.

Hopes for a breakthrough were quickly dashed when Saudi Arabia suspended any dialogue with Qatar, accusing it of “distorting facts”.

Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt accuse Qatar of supporting Islamist militants, a charge Doha denies.

Awdah was the second cleric reported detained by Saudi authorities in the past week.

Reports on social media said that Awad al-Qarni, another prominent cleric with 2.2 million Twitter followers, was also detained from his home in Abha in southern Saudi Arabia. — Reuters