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Qatar Court Sentences Poet to Life in Prison

HeadlineNov 30, 2012

A court in Qatar has sentenced a poet to life in prison after accusing him of insulting the emir and trying to overthrow the government. Mohammad al-Ajami criticized regional rulers in his “Jasmine Poem,” published after the Tunisian uprising last year, writing: “We are all Tunis in the face of the repressive elite.” Ajami has been held in solitary confinement for a year. The sentencing comes as delegates from nearly 200 countries are gathered in Qatar for the United Nations climate change summit.

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