Saudi Arabia condemns atheist to death for making a video renouncing Islam
Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court reportedly handed down the death penalty to an atheist for renouncing Islam and the Prophet Mohammed.
Ahmad Al Shamri, who hails from the town of Hafar al-Batin, was arrested in 2014 on charges of blasphemy and atheism after he allegedly posted videos on social media in which he renounced Islam and the Prophet Mohammed, Independent reported, citing local media.
A lower court sentenced him to death in February 2015, and he reportedly lost an Appeals Court case.
Shamri's attorneys entered an insanity plea, saying he was technically insane because he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol when he made the videos.
The country's Supreme Court ruled against his appeal earlier this week, effectively sentencing him to death.
Shamri, who is in his 20s, became a trending topic on Arabic-speaking Twitter in the last few days, with some users expressing their support for the Supreme Court decision.
"If you're a lowkey atheist that's fine. But once you talk in public & criticize God or religion, then you shall be punished," one post read, according to the Independent.
"I wish there could be live streaming when you cut his head off," said another.
Saudi Arabia, which was recently appointed to the UN Commission on the Status of Women, has been consistently condemned by international human rights groups for its poor human rights record.
Leaving Islam in Saudi Arabia can be punishable by harsh prison sentences and corporal punishment.
Last year, a man was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 2,000 lashes for expressing his atheism on social media.
Other cases of harsh punishment for apostasy in the country include a Turkish man who received the death penalty for "swearing at God," a high school teacher who was jailed and sentenced to 750 lashes for discussing Christianity and Judaism with his students, and a Yemeni man sentenced to 21 years' imprisonment for insulting Islam on Facebook.
As many as 153 people were executed in the country in 2015, mostly for drug trafficking or murder. According to Amnesty International, the number of executions in Saudi Arabia two years ago was the highest in two decades.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) lists Saudi Arabia as a "country of particular concern," which is its highest ranking for transgressors of religious freedom. In 2014, atheists were redefined as terrorists in a string of royal decrees under the late King Abdullah.