Sharia Witch Hunt: Saudi Court Sentences Lebanese Television Presenter to Death for Witchcraft

Ali Sibat is a Lebanese citizen who counsels couples and viewers on television, making predictions about their future. Saudi police arrested Sibat when he was visiting Medina last year and accused him of being a sorcerer. He was convicted without a lawyer and sentenced to death.

He was condemned to death on November 9th by a Sharia court.

The Saudis have been on a literal witch hunt for years, here. This month, the Saudi religious police arrested another man for bringing into the Kingdom a “book of witch craft.” What the religious police (Mutaween ) considers to be a book of witch craft is quite broad. In 2006, a Jeddah court convicted an Eritrean national Muhammad Burhan for “charlatanry” because he was found with a phone book that contained writings in the Tigrinya alphabet. They declared the book to be a “talisman” and the court accepted that as evidence, sentencing him to 20 months in prison and 300 lashes.

For a prior such case, click here.

It would appear that Larry King (who likes to have fortune tellers and personalities communicating with the dead on his program) may want to stay out of Saudi Arabia.

For the full story, click here.