A former Imam and Khateeb of Masjid Al Haram Sheikh Dr. Saleh al-Talib has been released after spending more than seven years in Saudi prisons. According to Saudi Prisoners of Conscience group, Sheikh Saleh is currently under house arrest, with electronic tags placed on his ankles.
Sheikh Saleh al-Talib was arrested in 2018 after he delivered a sermon on the duty in Islam to speak out against evil in public, which was understood to mean that he was criticising the Saudi General Entertainment Authority, and he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
No formal charges were ever publicly disclosed against the scholar, though authorities arrested him shortly after his controversial sermon. In 2022, the Specialised Criminal Appeals Court in Riyadh sentenced him to ten years in prison, overturning a previous acquittal.
Talib has a global following, with thousands of people watching his sermons and recitations of the Quran on YouTube. Before his detention, he served as a judge in Makkah, Riyadh, and other regions.
In March 2018, Sheikh Talib visited Pakistan where he met with officials such as then President Mamnoon Hussain and Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa.[5] He was appointed imam in 2002. He participated to lead taraweeh in 2003. He often got to led Isha prayers, and the last prayer that he led was Isha, and he recited Sura Munafiqun.
Born in 1974, he comes from the Huwtat Bani Taimi family, known for contributions to Islamic scholarship and judicial sciences. His release follows similar cases, including teacher Asaad bin Nasser Al-Ghamdi, who was freed earlier this year after two years in detention for social media posts.
Earlier this year, teacher Asaad bin Nasser Al-Ghamdi was released after more than two years in detention for expressing his views on X.
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