The justice ministry official was quoted by the government-aligned Al Riyadh newspaper as saying “The justice ministry will sue the person who described … the sentencing of a man to death for apostasy as being ‘ISIS-like,’” Reuters reports. The official did not define who the Twitter user was or what the potential punishment would be, but he did succeed in accidentally creating and trending two hashtags: #SaudiArabiaIsISIS and #SueMeSaudi. Saudi Arabia has been compared to ISIS ever since Palestinian poet Ashraf Fayadh was sentenced to death for “spreading atheism and disrespecting the prophet” in November. But yesterday’s Justice Ministry statement prompted Twitter users from around the world to openly taunt and dare the Saudi government into taking action against them.
— Mìcheal Marten (@MichaelMarten) November 28, 2015
— Keith Storrier (@keithstorrier) November 30, 2015
— Gizzy (@dragyntales) November 28, 2015 Earlier Saudi Arabia had convicted blogger Raif Badawi and sentenced him to 1,000 lashes for apostasy. Badawi has received 50 lashes so far despite ongoing protests against his sentencing. While Poet Ashraf Fayadh has 30 days to appeal this conviction. He maintains the accusations are false – as he has since he was first tried and found guilty of the crimes in 2014 before being retried. Fayadh’s conviction could in theory result in his beheading. Saudia Arabia has executed more than 150 people in 2015, the most in decades. The majority of these beheadings are due to murder and drug charges.
