Saudi Arabia to behead man for renouncing Islam

Defendant to be executed after he posted a video of himself ripping up a Quran, hitting it with his shoe

A Saudi man who posted a video of himself ripping up a Quran and beating it with his shoe was found guilty of apostasy by an Islamic court Tuesday and is to be beheaded.

The unnamed man in his 20s was sentenced after a Sharia court found him guilty of denouncing his Muslim faith and “various other acts of blasphemy,” the English-language Saudi Gazette reported.

An anonymous courtroom source said the death sentence was handed down after the man’s apostasy “was proven,” the paper reported.

Under the country’s strict interpretation of Wahhabi Sunni Islam, apostasy along with other religious offenses are punishable by death.

In Saudi Arabia, executions are usually carried out by public beheading.

Human rights groups have criticized the Saudi justice system for lack of transparency, arbitrary sentencing and regularly denying defendants basic legal rights.

Last year, a Saudi court sentenced blogger Raef Badawi to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for calling for criticizing the kingdom’s powerful clerics.

Badawi’s case sparked harsh international condemnation, and after receiving his first 50 lashes in January, no additional rounds of flogging have been carried out.