Saudi cleric wants death for TV "sorcerers" [View All]

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Saudi cleric wants death for TV "sorcerers" 14 Sep 2008 09:52:38 GMT
Source: Reuters
RIYADH, Sept 14 (Reuters) - A senior Saudi cleric has said purveyors of horoscopes on Arab television should face the death penalty, a paper said on Sunday, days after another cleric argued death for TV owners.

"Sorcerers who appear on satellite channels who are proven to be sorcerers have committed a great crime ... and the Muslim consensus is that the apostate's punishment is death by the sword," Sheikh Saleh al-Fozan told al-Madina daily.

"Those who call in to these shows should not be accorded Muslim rites when they die," the prominent cleric added.

Many of the hundreds of Arab satellite channels have sprung up in recent years specialise in horoscopes and other advice to callers on solving problems that is seen as "sorcery".

In their capacity as judges, clerics of Saudi Arabia's austere form of Islam often sentence "sorcerers" to death.