Lebanese artist arrested in Saudi Arabia, may face Khashoggi's fate
Prominent Lebanese composer has been reportedly detained in Saudi Arabia and is feared to have faced the same fate as the dissent journalist Jamal Khashoggi as the artist's family has been denied a visit with him.
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Lebanese media outlets said on Tuesday that Saudi authorities had a few days earlier arrested prominent composer Samir Sfeir after he arrived in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, at the invitation of an unknown Saudi official.
According to the al-Akhbar newspaper, Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry contacted the Saudi Embassy about the arrest and, later, Sfeir’s wife was promised a visit to her husband but when she arrived in Riyadh, she was not granted permission to visit him.
The Lebanese paper also said that Saudi authorities had so far refused to respond to requests for providing Beirut with information on why Sfeir was arrested.
Other media outlets said Sfeir, who is a known supporter of Lebanon’s largest Christian bloc — the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) — set out for Riyadh following an invitation from Waleed bin Ghazi, a personal assistant to the Saudi information minister.
According to reports, Sfeir’s family has been unaware of his condition for several days and the Lebanese artist is being kept in Saudi Arabia’s political prison, Dehun.
Charbel Khalil, a prominent FPM member, claimed that Saudi Arabia had “kidnapped” Sfeir just because he was “Aounist,” referring to the supporters of Lebanese President Michel Aoun.
“The Lebanese artist, Samir Sfeir, was kidnapped in the Kingdom of Bin Salman only because he is Aounist,” he wrote in a tweet. “It is the height of humiliation, shame and disgrace.”
Some Lebanese sources have expressed concern that Sfeir may have faced the fate of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who was brutally murdered in the Saudi consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul in 2018.
Khashoggi, a former advocate of the Saudi royal court who later became a critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed and his body was dismembered by a Saudi hit squad after he was lured into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018.
The Saudi government initially claimed Khashoggi had left the consulate on that day, but was later forced to admit the killing as incriminating evidence piled up.
The CIA has concluded that Mohammed personally ordered the assassination.
