Saudi Arabian man renounces Islam, denounces Muhammad, gets death penalty
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Medium (Personal)
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2018/05/01
A man renounced Islam and denounced Muhammad. The Saudi man, Ahmad Al-Shamri, as a result got sentenced to death. Al-Shamri posted views about Islam on social media in 2014.
The Saudi authorities became alerted to this activity. Al-Shamri was charged with the crimes of atheism and blasphemy. He was sentenced with the death penalty for the purported crimes.
He was sentenced in February of 2015. He is in his early 20s and is from the eastern Province of Saudi Arabia from the city of Hafar Al-Batin.
Al-Shafri pleaded insanity. That is, he was drunk and high on drugs at the time. This is according to the advisory board member for Human Rights Watch, Hala Dosari.
Dosari said, “His trial focused heavily on Quranic law and little on any mitigating mental illness. As a result, Al-Shamri has been sentenced to death for being an atheist.”
On April 25 2018, the Saudi Supreme Court ruled against Al-Shamri. Saudi Arabia, though known for executions, continues to be on the UN Human Rights Council until 2019. Its term expires at that time. To leave Islam in Saudi Arabia, it is punishable by death. Adam Coogle, Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch, explained, “The conservative religious folks have full control of the justice system… Judges come from religious seminaries in Saudi Arabia. They see themselves as preservers of Saudi Arabia’s character as an Islamic state… And they come down hard on people who step out of line.”
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