Qatari Poet Sentenced to Life in Prison for a Verse

A Qatari poet was sentenced Thursday to life in prison for a verse inspired by the Arab Spring that officials claim insulted Qatar’s emir and encouraged the overthrow of the nation’s ruling system, the poet’s lawyer said. The poet, Muhammad ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami, was jailed in November 2011, months after an Internet video was posted of him reciting “Tunisian Jasmine,” a poem lauding Tunisia’s uprising, which touched off the Arab Spring rebellions across the region. In the poem, he said, “We are all Tunisia in the face of repressive” authorities, and the piece criticized Arab governments that restrict freedoms. Qatari officials charged him with insulting Qatar’s ruler, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, and “inciting to overthrow the ruling system.”