Ali Alomarey

Education

Born on 11 February 1973 in Jeddah, he took a bachelor's degree in science and then a higher diploma in Sharia from Umm al-Qura University in Mecca. He went on to earn a master's degree in the principles of jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh) from the National University in Yemen and a doctorate in comparative jurisprudence from Al-Jinan University in Tripoli, Lebanon.

Preaching and media

He founded and chaired 4Shbab ("For Youth"), described as a moderate religious channel with a rational message aimed at young people, as well as the 4Shbab International organisation, and he served as president of Makkah Open University. He has written more than seventy books and hosted more than twenty television programmes; his travel show Mudhakkirat Sa'ih (A Traveller's Diary) earned him the title of Arab Tourism Ambassador for 2012.

Detention

He was arrested on 9 or 10 September 2017, during a wave of arrests of preachers, academics and intellectuals in Saudi Arabia. Facing more than thirty terrorism-related charges, he was the subject of a request for the death penalty by the public prosecutor in September 2018. As of late 2024, the Committee to Protect Journalists said it could not determine the status of his trial.