ALQST is concerned to learn that Saudi Arabia’s Public Prosecution has sought the death penalty against Islamic scholar Abdulaziz al-Tarifi, who is currently being held in solitary confinement in al-Ha’ir prison. While there is no further information on recent developments in his case, including on whether the prosecution is still seeking the death penalty, this news raises fears for al-Tarifi, especially amid the escalating use of the death penalty in the country.
A prominent and independent-minded Islamic scholar in Saudi Arabia, al-Tarifi was arrested in late April 2016 following online posts criticising Saudi-owned media channel Al Arabiya and certain religious practices of the state. This took place amid the arrest of several other Islamic scholars, including Mohammed al-Hudaif, Hussain al-Radhi, and Sulaiman al-Dowaish. Since then, little further information became known about al-Tarifi’s case, reflecting the lack of transparency around detention and judicial processes in Saudi Arabia.
This latest news raises grave fears for al-Tarifi’s fate, especially in light of Saudi Arabia’s escalating use of the death penalty, with authorities setting record execution figures in 2024 (345) and 2025 (356), despite pledges to reduce its use. The majority of such executions have been for non-lethal drug-related offences, while many others have been for “terrorism”-related offences, which, according to the vague and overly broad definition of terrorism in Saudi law, can include a wide range of non-lethal acts.
In one such case, Saudi journalist Turki al-Jasser was suddenly executed on 14 June 2025 under a number of extremely broad and vague charges of “terrorist” offences including “high treason”. Despite the lack of any further details regarding al-Jasser’s execution – typical of the absence of transparency in Saudi Arabia – his case bears all the hallmarks of a pattern whereby the authorities conflate peaceful dissent with terrorism.
Meanwhile, Islamic scholars Salman al-Odah and Hassan Farhan al-Maliki, for whom the Public Prosecution has also been seeking the death penalty on a range of vaguely formulated charges, continue to have their trials drag on for unknown reasons. Both have been arbitrarily detained since September 2017.
ALQST calls on the Saudi authorities to drop all charges against Abdulaziz al-Tarifi and immediately and unconditionally release him, as well as all those detained for the peaceful expression of their opinions. And in light of the alarming scale on which executions are being carried out in Saudi Arabia, we once again urge the authorities there to immediately establish an official moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty for all crimes.
