News / Saudi Arabia

Top Saudi clerics snub Council of Supreme Scholars sessions over corruption: Report

Monday, 08 July 2019 6:08 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 10 July 2019 10:52 AM ]

This file picture shows a view of Saudi Arabia’s Council of Senior Scholars in session.

Three members of Saudi Arabia’s highest religious authority have reportedly been refusing to attend the council’s sessions in a show of strong protest against “systematic moral corruption” in the ultra-conservative kingdom.

Exiled academic and political dissident Saeed bin Nasser al-Ghamedi wrote in a post published on his official Twitter page on Monday that the three members of the Council of Senior Scholars have declined to take part in the council’s meetings after they were barred from making mention of systematic moral corruption in the country.

Even though Ghamedi did not name the three Saudi scholars, he did not rule out possible issuance of an order to prevent the trio from attending sessions of the Council for unknown reasons.

ثلاثة من هيئة كبار العلماء انقطعوا عن حضور مجلس الهيئة
والمنتشر في أمانة الهيئة أن ذلك بسبب ما يحدث في المملكة من إفساد أخلاقي ممنهج، وعدم"السماح"للعلماء بالكلام في ذلك.
ويحتمل أنه صدر أمر بمنعهم من الحضور؛ لأسباب غير معلومة.
اللهم الطف ببلادنا وأهلنا من عاقبة الظلم والإفساد.
— سعيد بن ناصر الغامدي (@SAEED_NASSER) July 7, 2019