Family of late Saudi poet sues Arifi for slander

The family of the late Saudi poet, Abdul Rahman Al-Salihi has filed a lawsuit with the Saudi Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution in Riyadh against Sheikh Mohammed Arifi accusing him of slander, Saudi Al-Watan newspaper reported on Monday.

Arifi has published a tweet, which he deleted later saying the late poet had prayed for his son Hamdan Al-Salihi to die because he was ungrateful.

The late poet’s daughter, Ibtisam Al-Salihi told the newspaper “Although we used social networking sites to prove the true story but Arifi’s followers accused us of being liberal, seeking to fight religion, and fabricating stories about him.”

Meanwhile, activists on social networking sites called on Arifi to apologise for publishing the fabricated story.