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Riyadh (AFP)

A Saudi court sentenced a Yemeni man to death Sunday for a knife attack on a Spanish theatre group, state television said, amid a controversial push to ease decades-old restrictions on entertainment.

The court also sentenced an accomplice to 12 and a half years in jail for the November 11 attack during a live performance in Riyadh, which state media linked to militant group Al-Qaeda, and which Madrid said left four performers wounded.

"The criminal court issues a preliminary ruling handing the death sentence to the perpetrator of the terrorist attack... in Riyadh," the official Al-Ekhbariya television reported.

The assailant, identified by Saudi police as a 33-year-old Yemeni, went on a stabbing spree during a musical in the capital's King Abdullah Park, one of the venues hosting the two-month "Riyadh Season" entertainment festival.

It was the first such assault since the ultra-conservative kingdom began easing restrictions on entertainment.

Last week, Al-Ekhbariya said the attacker took orders from an Al-Qaeda leader in Yemen, but so far there has been no claim of responsibility from the group.

Al-Ekhbariya did not offer any details on his alleged accomplice.

Saudi Arabia is leading a military coalition supporting the Yemeni government against the Iran-backed Huthi rebels and has also been involved in the fight against Al-Qaeda.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which is active in Yemen, is considered by the United States as the radical group's most dangerous branch.

Observers also point at burbling resentment among arch-conservatives in the kingdom over the government's multi-billion dollar entertainment push as it seeks to lure foreign tourists and diversify its economy away from oil.

De facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has pursued sweeping social reforms that mark the biggest cultural shakeup in the kingdom's modern history, allowing mixed-gender concerts and the reopening of cinemas.

Although the reforms are wildly popular among Saudi Arabia's mainly young population, they risk angering religious hardliners in the deeply conservative nation.

Earlier this year, campaigners reported the arrest of religious scholar Omar al-Muqbil after he criticised the General Entertainment Authority (GEA) for "erasing Saudi society's original identity".

The reforms come as the OPEC kingpin, hit hard by low oil prices, seeks to boost domestic spending and diversify its economy.

Saudis currently splurge billions of dollars annually to see films and visit amusement parks in neighbouring tourist hubs like Dubai and Bahrain.

Critics say loosening social strictures is a diversionary tactic to make citizens more acquiescent and blunt public frustration over an economic downturn and an intensifying crackdown on dissent.

The kingdom has also faced intense international scrutiny over its human rights record since last year's killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the country's consulate in Istanbul.

And nearly a dozen women activists were arrested for demanding the right to drive, just weeks before the kingdom lifted the ban on female motorists last year.

In July, American rapper Nicki Minaj pulled out of a concert in Saudi Arabia in what she described as a show of support for women's and gay rights in the kingdom.

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© 2019 AFP