A poet who penned a scathing criticism of Saudi Arabia's Islamic judges has been jailed and the newspaper editor who published the poem fired, a Saudi official said Wednesday.
Prince Nayef, the interior minister, ordered Mohammad Mokhtar Al Fal, editor-in-chief of the Arabic-language Al Madina, to be fired a few days after the poem, titled “The Corrupt on Earth,” appeared March 10, said the official, who spoke on customary condition of anonymity.
According to AP, the poet, Abdul Mohsen Musalam, was jailed, the official revealed.
Musalam's poem accused the Islamic judges of taking bribes and ruling unjustly to please “tyrants.”
“It is sad that in the Muslim world, justice is suffering from a few judges who care for nothing but their bank accounts and their status with the rulers,” the poem's introduction read.
Musalam, a former editor at the English-Language Saudi Gazette, took his title from the Koran, which rules that “the corrupt on earth” must be put to death.
The poem reads, in part: “How many (sacred) verses and sayings you have slaughtered. “Your beards are smeared with blood. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
