Saudi Arabia Sentences Famed Quran Reciter To Prison For Leading Prayer At Hagia Sophia
Saudi Arabia has sentenced a Quran reciter to 12 years in prison for leading prayers at Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia mosque eight years ago.
The kingdom is intensifying its crackdown on religious figures.
Saudi rights organization, Prisoners of Conscience, said a Saudi court last Wednesday sentenced Imam and Quran reciter Abdullah Basfar to 12 years in prison.
Basfar was tried for “accepting an invitation to lead worshippers in the courtyard of the historic mosque in Turkey.”
The organization condemned the ruling and called on authorities to release him unconditionally.
Basfar previously held an associate professorship in Sharia and Islamic studies at Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz University.
He was arrested in August 2020 after a video of him leading prayers in the courtyard of Hagia Sophia in 2014 surfaced and spread online.
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