Ashraf Fayadh

{{Short description|Palestinian artist, art curator and lyricist}}

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| name = Ashraf Fayadh

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| native_name = أشرف فياض

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| birth_date = 1980

| birth_place = Saudi Arabia

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| occupation = Artist and poet

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| criminal_charges = apostasy

| criminal_penalty =*Beheading (original sentence; 2015; commuted)

Eight-year prison term with 800 lashes (subsequent replacement sentence)

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| awards = Oxfam Novib/PEN Award for Freedom of Expression (2017)

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Ashraf Fayadh ({{langx|ar|أشرف فياض}}; born 1980 in Saudi Arabia) is an artist and poet{{cite news |title=Putting contemporary Saudi art in context |url= http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Culture/Books/2014/Mar-28/251615-putting-contemporary-saudi-art-in-context.ashx |work=The Daily Star |location=Beirut |accessdate=5 January 2018 |date=28 March 2014 |first=India |last=Stoughton |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170614040854/http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Culture/Books/2014/Mar-28/251615-putting-contemporary-saudi-art-in-context.ashx |archive-date=14 June 2017 |url-status=live}} of Palestinian origin. He is the son of refugees from Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip and lives in Saudi Arabia. He was active in the British-Arabian arts organization, Edge of Arabia, and organized exhibitions of Saudi art in Europe and Saudi Arabia.

In November 2015, he was sentenced to death by beheading for apostasy.{{cite news |first=Ben |last=Hubbard |title=Saudi Artist's Death Sentence Follows a String of Harsh Punishments |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/23/world/middleeast/saudi-artists-death-sentence-follows-a-string-of-harsh-punishments.html |accessdate=5 January 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=22 November 2015 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180105235328/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/23/world/middleeast/saudi-artists-death-sentence-follows-a-string-of-harsh-punishments.html |archive-date=5 January 2018 |url-status=live}}{{cite news |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/as-saudi-arabia-eases-controls-on-culture-and-entertainment-artists-dream--and-worry/2018/01/10/d480874c-e42c-11e7-a65d-1ac0fd7f097e_story.html |title=As Saudi Arabia relaxes its controls on culture and entertainment, artists dream — and worry |first=Kareem |last=Fahim |work=The Washington Post |date=10 January 2018 |access-date=11 January 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180111011027/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/as-saudi-arabia-eases-controls-on-culture-and-entertainment-artists-dream--and-worry/2018/01/10/d480874c-e42c-11e7-a65d-1ac0fd7f097e_story.html |archive-date=11 January 2018 |url-status=live }} The Saudi court overturned the death sentence three months later, imposing an eight-year prison term with 800 lashes.

Conviction for apostasy

File:Worldwide Reading for Ashraf Fayadh on January 14, 2016, 7.30 p.m., at Hebbel am Ufer in Berlin.jpg

After an argument at a café, Fayadh was detained by religious police in Abha, Saudi Arabia, released on bail, then rearrested and tried in early 2014.{{Cite press release |url= https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/imprisoned-palestinian-poet-ashraf-fayadh-wins-pen-canada-one-humanity-award-651268553.html |title=Imprisoned Palestinian Poet Ashraf Fayadh wins PEN Canada One Humanity Award |publisher=PEN Canada |date=17 October 2017 |access-date=9 April 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181130202027/https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/imprisoned-palestinian-poet-ashraf-fayadh-wins-pen-canada-one-humanity-award-651268553.html |archive-date=30 November 2018 |url-status=live }} He was sentenced to four years in prison and 800 lashes. A Saudi appeals court returned the case to the lower court where a new judge was assigned to the case.{{Cite news |last=Batty |first=David |last2=Mahmood |first2=Mona |date=2016-02-02 |title=Palestinian poet Ashraf Fayadh's death sentence quashed by Saudi court |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/02/palestinian-poet-ashraf-fayadhs-death-sentence-overturned-by-saudi-court |access-date=2023-12-19 |issn=0261-3077}}

On 17 November 2015, Fayadh was sentenced to death by beheading for apostasy. Evidence included several poems within his 2008 book Instructions Within, Twitter posts, and conversations Fayadh had in an Abha coffee shop, in which he was accused of having promoted atheism.{{cite web |url= https://penusa.org/ashraf-fayadh |title=Poet's Death Sentence Reduced to Jail Time, Flogging |publisher=PEN Center USA |accessdate=5 January 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180105233619/https://penusa.org/ashraf-fayadh |archive-date=5 January 2018 |url-status=dead}}{{cite news |url=

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabian-court-sentences-palestinian-poet-ashraf-fayadh-to-death-for-apostasy-a6742161.html |title=Saudi Arabian court sentences Palestinian poet Ashraf Fayadh to death for apostasy |last=McDowall |first=Angus |work=The Independent |location= London |date=20 November 2015 |accessdate=5 January 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180106063703/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabian-court-sentences-palestinian-poet-ashraf-fayadh-to-death-for-apostasy-a6742161.html |archive-date=6 January 2018 |url-status=live}}

In December 2015, Fayadh became Honorary Member of German PEN, combined with a new protest note.{{cite press release |url= http://www.pen-deutschland.de/de/2015/12/02/pen-verurteilt-todesstrafe-gegen-dichter-und-pen-ehrenmitglied-ashraf-fayadh-in-saudi-arabien/ |title=PEN verurteilt Todesstrafe gegen Dichter und PEN-Ehrenmitglied Ashraf Fayadh in Saudi-Arabien |trans-title=PEN condemns death sentence against poet and PEN honorary member Ashraf Fayadh in Saudi Arabia |language=de |date=2 December 2015| access-date=5 January 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170608175015/http://www.pen-deutschland.de/de/2015/12/02/pen-verurteilt-todesstrafe-gegen-dichter-und-pen-ehrenmitglied-ashraf-fayadh-in-saudi-arabien/ |archive-date=8 June 2017 |url-status=dead}}

In November 2015, the Berlin International Literature Festival published an appeal to support Ashraf Fayadh with a Worldwide Reading on 14 January 2016.{{cite web|url=http://www.worldwide-reading.com/archiv-en/14-01-2016-worldwide-reading-of-selected-poems-and-other-texts-in-support-of-ashraf-fayadh?set_language=en|title=Worldwide Reading of selected poems and other texts in support of Ashraf Fayadh|publisher=Worldwide Reading|date=14 January 2014|accessdate=5 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170426032719/http://www.worldwide-reading.com/archiv-en/14-01-2016-worldwide-reading-of-selected-poems-and-other-texts-in-support-of-ashraf-fayadh?set_language=en|archive-date=26 April 2017|url-status=live}} Adam Coogle, a Middle East researcher for Human Rights Watch, said Fayadh's death sentence showed Saudi Arabia's "complete intolerance of anyone who may not share government-mandated religious, political and social views."{{cite news |last=Batty |first=David |title=Saudi court sentences poet to death for renouncing Islam |url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/20/saudi-court-sentences-poet-to-death-for-renouncing-islam |accessdate=5 January 2018 |website=The Guardian |location= London |date=20 November 2015|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171121131936/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/20/saudi-court-sentences-poet-to-death-for-renouncing-islam |archive-date=21 November 2017 |url-status=live}}{{cite news |last1=McDowall |first1=Angus |last2=Evans |first2=Dominic |title=Saudi court sentences Palestinian poet to death for apostasy: HRW |url= https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-rights-idUSKCN0T913X20151120#tMy7vQtVcR9dHHDm.97 |accessdate=5 January 2018 |work=Reuters|date=20 November 2015|location=Riyadh |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151129090103/http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/20/us-saudi-rights-idUSKCN0T913X20151120#tMy7vQtVcR9dHHDm.97 |archive-date=29 November 2015 |url-status=live}}

Following the international outcry, Fayadh's death sentence was commuted to eight years in prison and 800 lashes. Fayadh was also required to repent through an announcement in official media.{{cite news|title=Palestinian poet Ashraf Fayadh's death sentence quashed by Saudi court |url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/02/palestinian-poet-ashraf-fayadhs-death-sentence-overturned-by-saudi-court |newspaper=The Guardian |date=2 February 2016 |accessdate=5 January 2018 |first1=David|last1=Batty|first2=Mona|last2=Mahmood|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180105233714/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/02/palestinian-poet-ashraf-fayadhs-death-sentence-overturned-by-saudi-court|archive-date=5 January 2018|url-status=live}}

In January 2017, Fayadh shared the Oxfam Novib/PEN Award for Freedom of Expression with Malini Subramaniam.{{cite news |url= https://arablit.org/2017/01/21/ashraf-fayadh-wins-2017-oxfam-novibpen-award-for-freedom-of-expression/ |title=Ashraf Fayadh and Malini Subramaniam win the 2017 Oxfam Novib/PEN Awards for Freedom of Expression |date=20 January 2017 |work=Arablit |accessdate=5 January 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180105233701/https://arablit.org/2017/01/21/ashraf-fayadh-wins-2017-oxfam-novibpen-award-for-freedom-of-expression/ |archive-date=5 January 2018 |url-status=live}}

On August 23, 2022, Fayadh was released from prison after eight years and eight months.https://www.uscirf.gov/religious-prisoners-conscience/forb-victims-database/ashraf-fayadh {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}