"TV Psychic to be Executed for Witchcraft" -

TV Psychic to be Executed for Witchraft

A television psychic traveling through the country of Saudi Arabia has been condemned to death by Saudi courts. Ali Sabat, not native to the country, was traveling through on a Pilgrimage when he was nabbed earlier last year by police. Mr. Sabat is known for his television appearance as a psychic who makes predictions on Lebanese Satellite television stations along with advice for relationships and life in general. Needless to say, public outcry to the sentence has been tremendous.

The Mutaween, Saudi Arabia’s special forces for religious crimes grabbed Ali in his hotel room last year and tied him to charges of Witchcraft. Sabat was denied legal counsel at his trial, according to sources close to Sabat, though Sibat’s Lebanese lawyer said that Mr. Sibat had been lied to by authorities who promised him safe departure from the country in the form of deportation from Saudi Arabia rather than a stiffer crime such as imprisonment. Fearing a stiffer sentence, Sibat confessed to the charges of witchcraft, but soon after lawyers used the confession to secure the death penalty.

Public executions for visitors in Saudi Arabia are not unheard of given the wide latitude sharia law allows for defining general terms such as “Witchcraft” and “Sorcery.” Given the nature of the charges, and the misconduct alleged to have been perpetrated by the Saudi judicial system, human rights activists are proclaiming their disdain for the event.