Saudi cleric says TV 'sorcerers' should get death penalty

Riyadh: A Saudi cleric has said that people who spread horoscopes on Arab TV stations should face the death penalty, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

"Sorcerers who appear on satellite channels who are proven to be sorcerers have committed a great crime...and punishment is death by the sword," cleric Shaikh Saleh Al Forzan told Al Madina newspaper.

"Those who call in to these shows should not be accorded Muslim rites when they die," he added.

Al Forzan's statement comes days after another cleric said that owners of TV channels that promote indecency should be put to death.

Al Fozan said entertainment channel owners should be "banished" but stopped short of advocating the death penalty for them.