Saudi sentences a young for ” apostasy”
YemenExtra
A.A
Saudi Arabia has reportedly sentenced a young man to death for what Saudi called ” apostasy”, The news has stirred up Twitter users, with some expressing sadness and sorrow.
On Tuesday, a Saudi Arabian court dismissed an appeal from Ahmad Al Shamri, who had spent three years in prison over charges of “atheism and blasphemy.
Al Shamri was in his early 20s and lived the city of Hafr Al-Batin in the country’s Eastern Province, according to the website. He had reportedly renounced Islam and posted various videos reflecting his views on social media. The man was arrested in 2014, faced trial and was sentenced to death in February 2015.
After the appeal was rejected, social media users were split over the court decision, posting their comments under a trending hashtag, which can be translated from Arabic as “apostate from Hafar Al-Batin.
Many social media users condemned Saudi Arabia, pointing out that the country is a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
In the same context, Saudi Arabia has beheaded, Sun Apr 9, three Pakistani nationals after sentencing them to death on charges related to drug trafficking, bringing to 26 the number of executions in the kingdom this year.
Saudi Arabia carried out 153 executions across the kingdom last year, in 2015, Saudi Arabia carried out 158 executions, including 71 foreign nationals.
Saudi officials execute convicts by sword and then dangle their corpses from a helicopter to make sure the public could see the result of the execution.
According to international organization, this number of executions in terms of annual basis in Saudi Arabia has been unseen since 1995.
Also, according to the London-based rights group Amnesty International, Saudi Arabia has one of the highest execution rates in the world.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Saudi regime to abolish its “ghastly” beheadings.
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