Saudi comedian shrugs off threats

A prominent Saudi comedian who has mocked the Daesh group and Islamists in the ultra-conservative kingdom has said he shall not be deterred after receiving online threats.

Nasser al-Qasabi, who appears in a new satirical television sitcom titled "Selfie" aired by the Saudi-owned MBC network, said in remarks published Monday that he has "the right to express an opinion".

"Allah will protect us. It is the job of the artist to say the truth, even if that is at his own expense. This is the price we have to pay," Qasabi said in remarks posted on MBC's website.

It is not known who has made the threats against him.

A wave of support has hit social media networks, including Arabic hashtags on Twitter saying "we are all Nasser al-Qasabi" and "Qasabi mocks Daesh", the Arabic acronym for Daesh.

In his sitcom that is aired during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Qasabi is a Saudi father who pretends to want to join the militants in Syria in order to bring back his jihadist son.

Qasabi is shown protesting at the flogging of a young man being punished for listening to music and faints when ordered to slit the throat of an "infidel" captured by the extremists.

He also ridicules female jihadists said to have joined Daesh to offer its fighters sex.

In one episode Qasabi faces executioners after his cover is blown, only to find his own son demanding to be the one to behead him.

In another, Qasabi mocks ultra-conservatives in the kingdom, playing the role of a musician who repents and smashes a lute on stage.

In the past, Qasabi repeatedly mocked Saudi Arabia's notorious religious police in his popular Tash Ma Tash satirical comedy that ran for 18 seasons.
Source: AFP