Ashraf Fayadh

Ashraf Fayadh (Arabic: أشرف فياض; born 1980 in Saudi Arabia) is an artist and poet[1] of Palestinian origin.

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.

[4] 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.

[10] In November 2015, the Berlin International Literature Festival published an appeal to support Ashraf Fayadh with a Worldwide Reading on 14 January 2016.

[11] 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.