Riyadh | WTNS | September 5:Saudi authorities recently launched a new arrest campaign, detaining a famous religious figure, a Quran reciter, a university professor and many others, according to the Prisoners of Conscience account on Twitter, which documents human rights abuses in the Gulf kingdom.

Middle East Eye reports, In August, authorities arrested well-known academic Dr Abdullah Basfar, an associate professor at the department of Sharia and Islamic studies at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, and former secretary general of the World Book and Sunnah Organisation, according to the Twitter account.

Security agencies also arrested university professor Saud al-Funaisan, former dean of the faculty of Sharia at Al-Imam University in Riyadh, last March, but his arrest was revealed only a few days ago.

Since Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman came to power in the summer of 2017, the Saudi government has arrested hundreds of clerics, journalists, academics and cyber activists over their critical views of the government.