RIYADH, Nov 12(Arab News): The Supreme Court in Riyadh refused to endorse the death sentence issued by a court in Madinah against convicted Lebanese magician Ali Sibat, saying the man's offense did not warrant such a harsh punishment.

The court also noted that no one had complained of suffering any harm as a result of his charlatanry nor did he have any prior criminal record, press reports said on Thursday.

The Supreme Court also ordered the Madinah court to have the case reexamined by another panel of judges, adding that the punishment should be lighter and commensurate with the nature of his crime, such as deportation back to his country.

The 46-year-old Lebanese man, nicknamed “Scheherazade” because of his association with a television channel of the same name, was arrested by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice on the charge of practicing sorcery at a Madinah hotel in May 2008.

The Madinah General Court sentenced him to death in November the same year.

Following an appeal, the Court of Cassation in Makkah overturned the lower court’s verdict and recommended that he be given a lighter punishment after he has had the opportunity to repent.

However, the Madinah court rejected the Makkah court’s decision and forwarded the verdict for the Supreme Court's endorsement.

Before his arrest, Sibat had been working for a Lebanese satellite channel, which has now ceased operations, and used to tell viewers’ fortunes live.

May Al-Khansa, the Lebanese lawyer of the accused, had claimed that her client was charged unfairly.

“A Haia official named Abdul Rahman called my client after he arrived in the Kingdom and told him that his sister’s husband had married an Egyptian woman. He claimed he was seeking Sibat’s help to protect his sister from being divorced,” she said.

“When Sibat went to Abdul Rahman, he was surprised to see police officers waiting there to arrest him. This incident proves that my client had not practiced any black magic in the Kingdom.”

Sibat’s family recently held a press conference in Beirut and called on the Lebanese government to intervene and urged authorities in Riyadh not to implement the death sentence.

The family argued that Sibat did not deserve such a harsh punishment because he worked from Lebanon, whose law does not impose capital punishment on fortune-tellers.

It was also reported earlier that Lebanese Justice Minister Ibrahim Al-Najjar had met the Saudi Ambassador in Beirut for help in lifting Sibat’s death sentence.