The Saudi Arabia's most revered cleric said in a rare Fatwa this week that two writers should be tried for apostasy and put to death if they do not repent. Sheikh Abdul-Rahman al-Barrak was responding to recent articles in al-Riyadh newspaper that questioned the mainstream Sunni Muslim view that adherents of other faiths should be considered unbelievers.
"Anyone who claims this has refuted Islam and should be tried in order to take it back. If not, he should be killed as an apostate from the religion of Islam," said the Fatwa, or religious opinion, dated March 14 and published on Barrak's Web site (albarrak.islamlight.net).
"It is disgraceful that articles containing this kind of apostasy should be published in some papers of Saudi Arabia, the land of the two holy shrines," he said, referring to Muslim holy places in Mecca and Medina.
"The rulers should hold these papers to account ... and all those who took part in the publication should know they were involved in the sin of heretical articles." Barrak, who is thought to be around 75, is the leading authority of Saudi Arabia's hard-line version of Sunni Islam, often termed Wahhabism.
He said the articles suggested Muslims were free to follow other religions. Rights groups have accused Wahhabism of a xenophobic attitude, which demonises other religions.
The two writers, Abdullah bin Bejad al-Otaibi and Yousef Aba al-Khail, were not immediately available for comment. Saudi Arabia regularly executes drug traffickers, rapists and murderers, but calls for people to be put to death for opinions expressed in public are rare.
Liberal reformers are engaged in a battle with religious hard-liners over the direction of the country, a key US ally and the world's biggest oil exporter. Diplomats say powerful clerics allied to some key members of the Saudi royal family have prevented the government under King Abdullah from moving forward with social and political reforms.
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