Angus McDowell reports in the Independent that the Palestinian poet and artist Ashraf Fayadh has been sentenced to death by Saudi Arabian authorities after almost two years of imprisonment. According to trial documents, the main charge against Fayadh is apostasy, or abandoning his Muslim faith. He was originally detained by the country’s religious police in 2013, then rearrested and tried in early 2014. The initial verdict of the courts sentenced him to four years in prison and 800 lashes, but after an appeal another judge ordered a death sentence for him. He has thirty days to appeal the new ruling

Fayadh’s conviction was based on evidence given by a prosecution witness, who claimed to have heard him cursing god, the prophet Mohammad, and Saudi Arabia; as well as the content of Fayadh’s 2008 book of poetry Instruction Within. As Saudi Arabia’s justice system is based on Sharia Islamic law and its judges’ interpretation of the law stems from a conservative, Wahhabi interpretation of Sharia, religious crimes including blasphemy and apostasy can incur the death penalty. A convicted defendant can be pardoned by King Salman.

Fayadh is a member of Edge of Arabia, a British Saudi art organization, which just last week installed two murals at the United Nations in collaboration with Art Jameel, supporting women in southwest Saudi Arabia. The exhibition is titled “Our Mother's House.” The two groups were also highlighted at the 2015 Armory Show’s Focus section.

An online petition advocating his release states “We condemn these acts of intimidation targeting Ashraf Fayadh as part of a wider campaign inciting hate against writers and using Islam to justify oppression and to crush free speech.”