DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP):
IN A Ruling that human rights activists have condemned, a Saudi teacher who allegedly discussed religion with his students has been sentenced to 750 lashes and 40 months in prison for blasphemy.
Mohammed Salamah al-Harbi, a high school chemistry teacher, was convicted of questioning and ridiculing Islam, discussing the Bible and defending Jews, judicial officials said yesterday, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media.
Human Rights Watch says al-Harbi had been "talking to his pupils about his views on a number of current topics, such as Christianity, Judaism and the causes of terrorism."
IMPRISONING TEACHERS
"The Saudi Government is imprisoning schoolteachers for having open discussions with their students," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director of the New York-based Human Rights Watch in a statement yesterday. "As long as schoolteachers face persecution for doing their job, Saudi children will lose out."
Judicial officials said prosecutors acted after a complaint by students and fellow teachers of al-Harbi. The court in the northern province of al-Qassim heard the case on Saturday in a trial that lasted six hours.
Al-Harbi's lawyer, Abdul Rahman al-Lahem, refused to talk to The Associated Press because of the sensitivity of the case, but was quoted in the Saudi newspaper Al-Madinah as saying the judge had refused his request to postpone the trial to allow time for a proper defence.
"The judge's refusal to read a statement by witnesses is a violation of the defendant's rights," al-Lahem was quoted as saying in the newspaper on Sunday.
The teacher is planning to appeal the verdict.
