Saudi Arabia | Man faces beheading over video clip of somebody stepping on the Quran just days before Ramadan

A MAN in Saudi Arabia could face the death penalty after he was arrested over this clip of a foot stepping on the Quran just days before Ramadan.

The man, who has not been named, reportedly uploaded the clip to social media where it was widely shared in the Gulf state.

In the video, a Quran can be seen being thrown to the floor and stepped on with a bare foot.

The clip was reportedly uploaded to an Instagram account which proclaimed "repentance" in its bio section and the only upload was the video.

It remains unclear whether the man who shared the clip was the man in the footage.

Reports said the video caused outrage in Saudi Arabia with some calling for the person responsible arrest and death.

Those found guilty of apostasy — abandoning their religious belief — face the death penalty in Saudi Arabia where strict blasphemy laws remain.

It is unclear if the suspect has been charged.

The incident comes just days before the holy month of Ramadan which is set to begin later this week.

The kingdom's human rights record came under the spotlight this week after Amnesty International has warned against allowing Saudi Arabian investment fund take over Newcastle United.

Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has been accused of using sport as a distraction.

It is claimed sporting events and the takeover is being used to force attention away from mass executions, the jailing of women’s rights activists, the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the war in Yemen.

Human rights groups point to an example of a Saudi blogger Raif Badawi.

He is serving a 10-year prison sentence and suffered public flogging for running a blog entitled "Free Saudi Liberals".

He was arrested in January 2012 and found guilty of "insulting Islam through electronic channels".

Badawi's lawyer Waleed Abu Al-Kheir, who founded the organisation "Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia" was arrested in 2014 and given a 15-year prison sentence for "undermining the regime and officials" and "inciting public opinion".

Justice Saudi Style

Saudi Arabia executed a record number of people in 2019, despite an overall decline in executions worldwide, Amnesty International said in its 2019 global review of the death penalty published today.

The Saudi authorities put 184 people to death last year, the highest number Amnesty has ever recorded in a single year in the country.

This included six women and 178 men. Just over half of whom were foreign nationals. The figure was 149 in 2018.

The majority of executions were for drug-related offences and murder. However, Amnesty International also documented the increased use of the death penalty as a political weapon against dissidents from Saudi Arabia’s Shi’a Muslim minority.

On 23 April 2019, there was a mass execution of 37 people, 32 of them Shi’a men convicted on “terrorism” charges after trials that relied on confessions extracted through torture.

Source: thescottishsun.co.uk, Patrick Knox, April 23, 2020

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