Saudi Arabia sentences Riyadh concert stabber to death - state TV
THE STAR
Sunday, 29 Dec 2019
7:07 PM MYT
DUBAI (Reuters) - A Saudi Arabian court sentenced on Sunday a man accused of stabbing three performers at a live show in the capital Riyadh in November to death, state television said.
Another man on trial for the same incident was sentenced to 12 and a half years, al-Ekhbariya television said.
The Nov. 11 attack occurred at King Abdullah Park, one of several venues hosting a months-long entertainment festival as part of government efforts to open up Saudi society and diversify its economy away from oil.
(Reporting by Maha El Dahan, editing by Louise Heavens)
Knifeman storms stage and stabs two actors and an actress during performance in Saudi Arabia following kingdom relaxing restrictions on entertainment
- 33-year-old Yemeni man was seized after the on-stage stabbing in Riyadh
- The attack took place on stage at Riyadh's King Abdullah Park last night
- Public entertainment has only recently been approved in the kingdom
- Saudi officials fear the introduction of reforms in such a conservative country
A Yemeni man stabbed three performers during a live play in the Saudi capital on Monday, in the first such attack since the ultra-conservative kingdom began easing decades-old restrictions on entertainment.
The assailant was arrested after state television footage showed him stomping onto the stage in Riyadh's King Abdullah Park during a musical performance by what appeared to be a foreign theatre troupe.
'Security forces dealt with a... stabbing attack against two men and a woman from a theatre group during a live performance,' a police spokesman was quoted as saying by the official Saudi Press Agency.
A 33-year-old Yemeni man can be seen wielding a knife during a live play in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh, yesterday. He went on to stab three performers - two actors and an actress - during a musical performance by a foreign theatre troupe at King Abdullah Park
The man wrestles with a security guard after he launched his vicious attack yesterday. Saudi police confirmed that the victims, one pictured on the floor, were now in a stable condition, but declined to comment further on their nationalities or the knifeman's motivation
The Yemeni expatriate can be seen storming the stage during the live performance at King Abdullah park yesterday. The attack at the park happened during 'Riyadh Season,' part of the Saudi government's plan to change the appearance of the ultra-conservative kingdom to make it more attractive to tourists. By 2030, Saudi Arabia aims to welcome 100 million holidaymakers each year
Police said the man arrested was a 33-year-old Yemeni expatriate and that the knife used in the attack was seized.
The statement added the victims were in stable condition but offered no information about their nationality or the motivation of the assailant.
The King Abdullah Park is one of the venues hosting the two-month 'Riyadh Season' entertainment festival, part of a broad government push to open up the austere kingdom to tourists and diversify its economy away from oil.
The country's de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has introduced stunning reforms including allowing concerts, re-opening cinemas and lifting a ban on women driving as part of a contentious liberalisation drive.
In scenes that were unimaginable just two years ago, Saudi Arabia has staged glitzy performances by a host of international artists, from South Korean boy band BTS to pop icon Janet Jackson and rapper 50 Cent.
But Saudi officials warn that introducing such reforms in a society steeped in conservatism is fraught with peril.
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, left, and Yemen's President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, attend the signing of a power-sharing deal between Yemen's internationally recognized government and Yemeni separatists that are backed by the United Arab Emirates, in Riyadh last week. Bin Salman has been at the centre of a major liberalisation drive, including the opening of cinemas, allowing concerts and legalising female driving. Many have welcomed the recent changes but some, including religious leaders, see them as morally destructive and dangerous
While they are wildly popular among Saudi Arabia's majority young population, the reforms risk angering arch-conservatives, including hardline clerics and the religious police whose powers have been clipped in recent years.
'The risk of this sort of attack against the recent introduction of public entertainment, which many clerics have been inciting against, is a key reason (the government) has pursued a zero tolerance policy towards their public attacks against change and reform,' Saudi analyst Ali Shihabi said on Twitter.
Earlier this year, human rights campaigners reported the arrest of religious scholar Omar al-Muqbil after he criticised the Saudi General Entertainment Authority for hosting such concerts, saying they were 'erasing Saudi society's original identity'.
In scenes that were unimaginable just two years ago, Saudi Arabia has staged glitzy performances by a host of international artists, from South Korean boy band BTS to pop icon Janet Jackson and rapper 50 Cent
'Liberals and conservatives in the kingdom are on a collision course and that probably worries Saudi leaders the most,' Quentin de Pimodan, a Saudi expert at the Greece-based Research Institute for European and American Studies, told AFP.
'After this attack we can expect a sharper crackdown on those opposed to Saudi's entertainment push.'
Saudi Arabia has already drawn international censure for its sweeping crackdown on critics, including clerics, intellectuals and women activists.
Saudi promo video labels feminism, atheism, homosexuality as extremist ideas
Saudi students are seen at an exhibition to guide job seekers to a women's career fair in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia October 2, 2018
A promotional video published by Saudi Arabia's state security agency categorises feminism, homosexuality and atheism as extremist ideas, even as the conservative Muslim kingdom seeks to promote tolerance and attract foreigners.
The animated clip posted on Twitter at the weekend by a verified account of the State Security Presidency said 'all forms of extremism and perversion are unacceptable'.
It listed those concepts alongside takfir - the Islamist militant practice of labelling followers of other schools of Islam unbelievers.
'Don't forget that excess of anything at the expense of the homeland is considered extremism,' said the promo's voiceover.
As part of plans to open up society and attract foreign investment to transform Saudi Arabia's oil-dependent economy, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has pushed for a more moderate form of Islam and promoted nationalist sentiment.
He has loosened social restrictions and launched a tourist visa and, as Saudi Arabia prepares to take over the presidency of the Group of 20 countries next year, Riyadh has chipped away at a guardianship system that assigns each woman a male relative to approve important decisions throughout their lives.
But the authorities have also cracked down on dissent, arresting scores of critics including clerics, intellectuals and activists.
Nearly a dozen women's right advocates were detained weeks before a ban on women driving - which they had campaigned against - was lifted last year. Activists and diplomats speculated that may have been a message that reform would happen only at the government's initiative.
The public prosecutor has said the women were arrested on suspicion of harming Saudi interests and offering support to hostile elements abroad. Some of the charges relate to their rights work.
Under Saudi law, supporting groups classified as extremist organisations can lead to imprisonment.
Homosexuality and atheism have long been illegal and punishable by death in the absolute monarchy, where public protests and political parties are banned and the media is tightly controlled.
The kingdom has faced international scrutiny over its human rights record since last year's murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul.
Developing the tourism and leisure sector is one of the foundations of Prince Mohammed's Vision 2030 plan to prepare the Arab world's largest economy for the post-oil era.
The General Entertainment Authority has said it plans to pump $64 billion into the sector in the coming decade.
Some Saudis, however, view the push for entertainment as an attempt to blunt public frustration over an economic downturn and high youth unemployment in the petro-state.
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