Saudi Arabia Sentences an Atheist to Death for Uploading a Video Renouncing Islam and the Prophet Mohammed

Saudi Arabia has sentenced an atheist to death for uploading a video in which he renounced Islam and the Prophet Mohammed.

The man has been identified locally as Ahmad Al Shamri who is in his 20s and from the town of Hafar al-Batin.

Saudi authorities first picked him up in 2014 after he uploaded the video showing men and women dancing which led to him being charged with atheism and blasphemy.

After a lengthy appeal process, the country's Supreme Court ruled against him this week, effectively sending him to his death.

In the original case against Mr Shamri, his legal team said that he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol and therefore technically insane, according to Erem News.

Strict laws in the kingdom mean citizens turning their back on Islam can find themselves punished by harsh prison sentences.

Shockingly, fellow countrymen appeared to support the punishment handed down by the country's officials when reacting to the sanction online.

According to The Independent, one said: 'If you're a lowkey atheist that's fine. 'But once you talk in public and criticize God or religion, then you shall be punished.'

Another poster said: 'I wish there could be live streaming when you cut his head off.'

Saudi Arabia's human rights track record has been put under the spotlight multiple times.

In 2015, the country executed 153 people, most of them for drug trafficking or murder.

Human rights group Amnesty International says the number of executions in Saudi Arabia two years ago was the highest for two decades.

Saudi Arabia has a strict Islamic legal code under which murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy are all punishable by death.