Claim: A prayer leader in a mosque in Saudi Arabia was forcibly removed and arrested in September 2026 for condemning and criticising the US policy in the Middle East.
Fact: The video is from March 2018 and depicts a “mentally ill” man who refused to step away from the pulpit before being forcibly removed to let the official prayer leader take his place.
Between 14 and 22 September 2026, social media users and pages posted a video of a scuffle, with the claim that it showed the removal and arrest of an imam, or prayer leader, in a mosque in Saudi Arabia for condemning and criticising US policy in the Middle East.
Some of the captions accompanying the viral video are as follows:
- “امریکی پالیسی پر تنقید کرنے کے جرم میں سعودی عرب امام مسجد کو گرفتار کر لیا گیا [An imam at a Saudi Arabian mosque has been arrested for criticising US policy.]”
- “فوٹیج میں مبینہ طور پر سعودی عرب میں ایک مسجد کے امام کو خطے میں امریکہ کی پالیسی کے حوالے سے مذمت اور تنقید کے لیے گرفتار کرتے ہوئے دکھایا گیا ہے۔ مبینہ طور پر انہوں نے خطبہ ختم کرنے کا انتظار بھی نہیں کیا۔ [The footage allegedly shows the arrest of a mosque imam in Saudi Arabia for condemning and criticising US policy in the region. Reportedly, they did not even wait for him to finish the sermon.]”
- “سعودی عرب سے ایک انتہائی افسوسناک خبر سامنے آئی ہے جہاں ایک مسجد کے امام کو مشرقِ وسطیٰ میں امریکی پالیسی کی مذمت کرنے پر نماز کی حالت میں ہی گرفتار کر لیا گیا۔پولیس نے امام کو اپنی نماز مکمل کرنے کی اجازت تک نہ دی اور انہیں حراست میں لے لیا۔ کسی بھی مسلمان کے لیے حالتِ نماز میں اس طرح کی کارروائی اور ایک دینی عالم کے ساتھ ایسا سلوک سوشل میڈیا پر شدید بحث اور تشویش کا باعث بنا ہوا ہے۔ [Distressing news has emerged from Saudi Arabia, where a mosque imam was arrested, while performing prayers, for condemning US policy in the Middle East. Police did not even allow the imam to complete his prayer and took him into custody. For any Muslim, such an incident occurring while in a state of prayer and the treatment meted out to a religious scholar has sparked intense debate and concern on social media.]”
- “آل سعود اور آل یہود پر لعنت بیشمار فوٹیج میں مبینہ طور پر سعودی عرب میں ایک مسجد کے امام کو خطے میں امریکہ کی پالیسی کے حوالے سے مذمت اور تنقید کے لیے جانوروں کی طرح گرفتار کرتے ہوئے دکھایا گیا ہے۔ ملعونوں نے خطبہ ختم کرنے کا انتظار بھی نہیں کیا۔ [Infinite curses upon the House of Saud and the House of the Jews. The video allegedly shows an imam at a mosque in Saudi Arabia being arrested like a beast for condemning and criticising US policy in the region. The accursed ones did not even wait for [him to] finish the sermon.]”
Screenshot of one of the viral posts
The US has consistently supported Israel in its war against Palestine that started in October 2023, having sent arms worth $21.6 billion from January 2025 to September 2026 and $17.9 billion between October 2023 and early 2025 to the Middle Eastern state, according to a report that cited a Brown University study, notifications submitted by President Donald Trump’s administration to the Congress, and State Department data.
The US is also currently engaged in a war with Iran that it started together with Israel in February 2026.
Fact or Fiction?
Reverse-searching keyframes from the viral video led us to a 2 March 2018 article published by Saudi newspaper Sabq, which, when translated from Arabic to English, said that a “mentally ill man was arrested” for “impersonating a preacher” in a mosque in Yanbu Al-Nakhal”, a village in the Kingdom.
Worshippers present in the mosque were forced to intervene “when a person climbed onto the pulpit” before the official prayer leader’s arrival to deliver the sermon, the publication wrote, adding that the detainee was wearing a “bisht” — a traditional Arab cloak — “to deceive people into thinking he was the preacher”.
“Majid bin Ghalib Al-Muhammadi, the official spokesman for the branch of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs in the Madinah region, explained that regarding what happened at Al-Jabriyah Mosque in Yanbu Al-Bahr, the mosque’s department in Yanbu Governorate reported that at 12:35 noon, a mentally ill person tried to deliver the sermon at Al-Jabriyah Mosque in Yanbu Al-Bahr, and when he ascended the pulpit, he was dealt with by the competent authorities, and the Friday prayer and sermon were performed by the official preacher of the mosque,” the Saudi outlet added.
During our search, we also came across a 4 March 2018 article by Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Anba, which reported — as translated from Arabic to English — that “a mentally ill person … climbed up and attempted to deliver the Friday sermon before the official preacher arrived at the mosque”.
“Social media users circulated a video showing an altercation between worshippers, a security officer, and a mentally ill man who was clinging to the pulpit and refusing to come down. However, the worshippers and the security officer managed to remove him from the pulpit and force him down,” it added.
Akhbaar24, another Arabic-language Saudi publication, also reported the same on 2 March 2018 and included a link to a video of the incident posted on YouTube.
Soch Fact Check also came across a 6 September 2026 post on X (formerly Twitter) by The Anti-Rumor Authority, a Saudi fact-checking outlet, debunking the same claim. It wrote, “The real video was filmed in May 2018 and it shows a number of worshippers and a security man preventing a mentally ill person from delivering the Friday sermon instead of the mosque’s official preacher.”
The Anti-Rumor Authority included in its evidence a 2 March 2018 article by Al Arabiya, with the title, which, when translated from Arabic to English, reads, “Worshippers prevent a mentally ill man from delivering the sermon in the city.”
The Checker, a project of the Iraqi Network for Social Media (INSM) Foundation for Digital Rights, also investigated and debunked the claim on 16 September 2026, referencing the same Sabq news article that we mentioned above. It also provided the link to a YouTube video of the same incident.
In June 2025, Soch Fact Check debunked a claim suggesting that the video showed an imam arrested for criticising the Saudi government for being “an agent of Israel and America”.
Prior to that, outlets accredited by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), such as Teyit, Verify, and Misbar, have also debunked the claim when it was linked to Gaza and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, commonly known as MbS.
Soch Fact Check, therefore, concludes that the viral claim is false.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found that the video was posted over 30 times on Facebook, seven times on Instagram, once on Threads, and four times on X.
It was also shared by Pakistani news outlet Daily Aaj on 4 January 2026 and Iranian AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA) on 15 September 2026.
Conclusion: The video is from March 2018 and depicts a “mentally ill” man who refused to step away from the pulpit before being forcibly removed to let the official prayer leader take his place.
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