Musa al-Qarni: The Saudi Reformist Who Died in Detention
Famous Saudi preacher Musa al-Qarni died last week after 15 years in prison. He spent those years out of the 20 year-prison sentence given by Saudi authorities based on several false charges, including "protesting against the ruler," "planning to establish a political party" and "communicating with foreign parties." Al-Qarni was arrested in February 2007 and in May 2018, his relatives suffered a stroke that caused him to be transferred to a mental hospital in Jeddah, according to human rights sources.
Slow Killing
Sanad, a 66-year-old human rights group, said that al-Qarni has suffered from illness and deliberate medical neglect in regime detention facilities, where his health has deteriorated dramatically in recent years without receiving any medical attention.
It explained in a statement on October 12, 2021 that Al-Qarni's death came after he spent 15 years in regime detention, where he was serving an unfair sentence of 20 years, followed by 20 years' travel ban.
The Saudi government blamed his death inside the prison and the slow manner of murder against him, which is a crime under all international laws.
Al-Qarni was arrested along with a group of jurists for demanding the establishment of a human rights association in Saudi Arabia, the organization said, adding that he "suffered harm, torture and harassment during his detention and was held in solitary confinement for long periods and his health deteriorated in recent years with no care of power."
Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor's body charged al-Qarni and 15 other figures covered by the "secret organization" case with 75 charges.
They claimed that most of them were related to "involvement in the establishment of a secret organization aimed at seizing power in the country."
The prosecution claimed that they "wanted to reap the fruits of al-Qaeda's terrorist activity in Saudi Arabia by supporting him with money, blessing his actions, in order to create chaos and gain power."
Investigations into the case continued for three and a half years without sentences, and seven of the nine detainees were transferred after one year of prison to a private prison, while Saud al-Hashimi and Musa al-Qarni were kept in solitary confinement, and Issam Basrawi was released following his poor health in prison.
In August 2010, trials began after detainees were transferred from Al-Ha'ir prison in Riyadh to Dhahran prison in Jeddah, and the trials lasted for more than 40 sessions.
Meanwhile, the long-standing request for the release of the accused was filed and dealt with frequently with the judge, and the judge issued the request for release, to be executed for all but: Saud al-Hashimi, Musa al-Qarni, Abdul Rahman al-Shammari, Saif al-Din al-Sharif, Abdul Rahman Momen Khan and Walid al-Omari, who were scheduled to remain in prison in May 2011.
On November 22, 2011, the Specialized Criminal Court sentenced 16 defendants to 228 years in prison.
The sentences ranged from 5 to 30 years, in addition to the travel ban on some of those sentenced after the end of their sentences, including preacher Musa al-Qarni.
Preacher and Academic
Born in 1954 in the Jazan area of Bash, Saudi Arabia, Musa bin Mohammed bin Yahya al-Qarni is married with six sons and six daughters, and his father, Sheikh Mohammed bin Yahya al-Qarni, who worked in the judiciary for 42 years until he resigned from the judiciary.
Al-Qarni is a preacher and academic, who received a master's degree in the fundamentals of jurisprudence and at this stage was chosen by the administration of the Islamic University when its president Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Baz was a returner and a scholarship to study in Mecca before the opening of a department of postgraduate studies at the Islamic University.
He completed his PhD in the fundamentals of jurisprudence in Mecca after being transformed into Umm Al-Qura University.
He received his Ph.D. in the specialty of jurisprudence, then worked at the Islamic University, then dean of student affairs, then professor of jurisprudence in the Faculties of Sharia and Hadith and the Graduate Department of the University and then head of the Department of Jurisprudence at the University.
He worked as a cooperative professor of faith teaching at the imam Mohammed bin Saud Islamic University branch of the city (Faculty of Advocacy and Information) and supervised and discussed a number of master's and doctoral letters at the Islamic University, Imam Mohammad ibn Saud Islamic University, Umm Al-Qura University, and Prince Nayef Academy, and received nearly 30 letters.
He taught at the University of Dawat and Jihad and the Islamic Institute in Peshawar, Pakistan, and oversaw the Islamic Academy of Sciences and Technology of the World Islamic Relief Organization and the Islamic World Association in that city, and then as director after becoming the Islamic University of Science and Technology.
He scientifically supervised a number of sharia institutes in the Afghan migrant camps of the Islamic Committee of Al-Bar.