Riyadh Summary Court judges have described the attack on the Al-Jouf Literary Club as an “act of sabotage, crime and corruption in the land” and said that the culprits could face jail, lashes and public defamation or even beheading. “The sentence would depend on the investigation results and the judge, but if the act was part of wider, organized sabotage, then the case would be heard by the General Court where the judge could give jail sentences, lashes and public defamation,” according to Judge Saleh Aal Al-Sheikh. “If the culprit was an individual acting out of revenge, then the case would be heard by the Summary Court.” If the perpetrator is a minor, Aal Al-Shiekh continued, he will be held at a Social Correction Home and a judge assigned to it will oversee the case. “If the case has terrorist connections, however, then the culprit will be tried by the relevant courts whatever his age while detained at the correctional house,” he said. Judge Ibrahim Al-Khudairi of the Riyadh Court of Cassation said the attack did not fall under “hiraba” punishment, a “hudood” or fixed-Shariah offense. “If the charges include ‘damaging public and private property and threatening the life of Muslims' then the convicted could be sentenced to beheading, particularly if it is proved that the perpetrator represents a danger that can only be eliminated by death,” Al-Khudairi said. Last Sunday's fire at Al-Jouf Literary Club – the second in under a year – tore through offices and a tent for cultural activities, and was preceded two hours earlier by a telephone text death threat to club chairman Ibrahim Al-Humaid. “Do you know that your murder is halal (permissible)? Within a few hours you'll be killed like your neighbor Hamoud and his colleagues,” the message read, in reference to Hamoud Al-Suwailem, one of several Al-Jouf police officers killed by terrorists in incidents in 2003. The incident was responded to with condemnation from the nation's press and senior figures, with Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Aal Al-Sheikh, adding his voice on Tuesday to the chorus of disapproval. “It is wrong for Muslims to attack state or individual property,” Al-Sheikh told Al-Hayat Arabic daily on Tuesday. “This is an injustice against the people…. and it is impermissible for us to bring up our young on crime, arson, enmity and evil, and to commit injustices on people. We should instead nurture in ourselves love and goodness.”
