Ashraf Fayadh ( ar, أشرف فياض, born 1980 in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

) is an artist and poet of

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

origin. He is the son of refugees from

Khan Yunis Khan Yunis ( ar, خان يونس, also spelled Khan Younis or Khan Yunus; translation: ''Caravansary fJonah'') is a city in the southern Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Khan Yunis had a population of 142,6 ...

in the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

and lives in Saudi Arabia. He was active in the British-Arabian arts organization, ''Edge of Arabia'', and organized exhibitions of Saudi art in Europe and Saudi Arabia. In November 2015, he was sentenced to death by beheading for

apostasy Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that i ...

. The Saudi court overturned the death sentence three months later, imposing an eight-year prison term with 800

lashes Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging has been imposed on ...

Conviction for apostasy

After an argument at a café, Fayadh was detained by

religious police Religious police are any police force responsible for the enforcement of religious norms and associated religious laws. Most religious police in modern society are Islamic and can be found in countries with large Muslim population, such as Saudi ...

Abha Abha ( ar, أَبْهَا, ') is the capital of 'Asir Region in Saudi Arabia, with a population of 1,093,705 as of 2021. It is situated above sea level in the fertile Asir Mountains of south-western Saudi Arabia, near Asir National Park. Abha' ...

, released on bail, then rearrested and tried in early 2014. He was sentenced to four years in prison and 800 lashes. A Saudi appeals court returned the case to the lower court where a new judge was assigned to the case. On November 17, 2015, Fayadh was sentenced to death by beheading for

. Evidence included several poems within his 2008 book ''Instructions Within'', Twitter posts, and conversations Fayadh had in an Abha coffee shop, in which he was accused of having promoted

atheism Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...

. In December 2015, Fayadh became ''Honorary Member'' of German PEN, combined with a new protest note. In November 2015, the

Berlin International Literature Festival The Berlin International Literature Festival (german: internationales literaturfestival berlin) or ''ilb'' is an annual event based in Berlin. Every September, the festival presents contemporary poetry, prose, nonfiction, graphic novels and inte ...

published an appeal to support Ashraf Fayadh with a Worldwide Reading on January 14, 2016. Adam Coogle, a Middle East researcher for

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

, said Fayadh’s death sentence showed Saudi Arabia’s "complete intolerance of anyone who may not share government-mandated religious, political and social views." Following the international outcry, Fayadh's death sentence was commuted to eight years in prison and 800 lashes. Fayadh was also required to repent through an announcement in official media. In January 2017, Fayadh shared the Oxfam Novib/PEN Award for Freedom of Expression with Malini Subramaniam.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fayadh, Ashraf 1980 births Human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia Living people Palestinian artists 20th-century Palestinian poets Prisoners sentenced to death by Saudi Arabia Palestinian male poets 20th-century male writers