Riyadh: An Islamic
court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a man to death for renouncing his
Muslim faith, the English-language daily Saudi Gazette reported on
February 24. The man, in his 20s, posted an online video ripping up a copy
of Islam’s holy book, the Koran, and hitting it with a shoe, the
newspaper reported.
Saudi Arabia, the United States’ top
Arab ally and birthplace of Islam, follows the strict Wahhabi Sunni
Muslim school and gives the clergy control over its justice system.
Under the Wahhabi interpretation of
Sharia Islamic law, apostasy demands the death penalty, as do some other
religious offences like sorcery, while blasphemy and criticism of
senior Muslim clerics have incurred jail terms and corporal punishment.
Executions in Saudi Arabia are usually carried out by public beheading.
International rights groups say the
Saudi justice system suffers from a lack of transparency and due
process, that defendants are often denied basic rights such as legal
representation and that sentencing can be arbitrary. The Saudi
government has taken some steps to reform its judicial system but has
also defended it as fair.
Last year a court in Jeddah sentenced
Saudi liberal Raif Badawi to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison for
publishing criticism of the kingdom’s ruling religious and political
elite and calling for reforms in Islam.
The first of 50 of those lashes were
carried out in January, but subsequent rounds of flogging have not
occurred. Officials have not publicly commented on the case, but
insiders say the lashing appears to have been quietly dropped.
Source: Yahoo News
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