Saudi Arabia ‘detains’ Makkah imam critical of mixed gatherings

Activist say Saudi Arabia has detained a prominent preacher and imam at Makkah’s Grand Mosque after he delivered a sermon critical of mixed gender public gatherings, Al Jazeera reports.

Prisoners of Conscience, a social media group that monitors arrests of Saudi Arabian preachers and religious scholars, said on Sunday that Sheikh Saleh al-Talib after he delivered the sermon.

According to Khaleej Online, al-Talib had derided the mixed gatherings of unrelated men and women at concerts and other events.

The speech did not contain any direct criticism of the royal family, but the kingdom has recently relaxed laws on women attending public events.

Al-Talib’s English and Arabic Twitter accounts were deleted hours after the reported arrest.

Saudi Arabian authorities are looking at everyone who has influence, UK-based Saudi human rights activist Yahya Assiri told Al Jazeera.

"Even those that have kept quiet or pledged allegiance to the state, even those that have been drumming up the authorities and their initiatives, even these are not safe."

Dozens of imams, women’s rights activists and members of the royal family have been arrested since Mohammed bin Salman was named Saudi crown prince last year.

Prominent Islamic preachers Salman al-Awdah, Awad al-Qarni, Farhan al-Malki, Mostafa Hassan and Safar al-Hawali are among the detainees.

Al-Awdah and al-Qarni were arrested in September 2017 for alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, which the kingdom has blacklisted as a terror group.

Al-Halawi was detained after publishing a book on bin Salman and the ruling family’s ties to Israel.

Bin Salman has been involved in a softening of Saudi Arabia’s stance on Israel.

He told the US-based Atlantic magazine that Israelis had a right to their own land and that the country shared many interests with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.