GETTY/Instagram Saudi Arabia has threatened to sue a Tweeter who described a sentence as 'ISIS-like'

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The country's justice ministry announced that it will take legal action against the unnamed Tweeter, who was railing against the death sentence handed down to a poet for the medieval crime of "apostasy". Saudi Arabia - which has been repeatedly accused of covertly supporting the jihadi hate group - has a highly controversial justice system which operates a regime of Sharia Law.

The Arab nation carries out more executions than almost any other country on earth, with the favoured method of death being beheading. The most recent victim of its barbaric regime is Palestinian poet Ashraf Fayadh, who was sentenced to death last week for allegedly renouncing his Muslim faith.

GETTY The rate of executions has risen sharply under King Salman

Apostasy is considered a serious crime in the oppressive nation, which has executed at least 175 people this year. His case has attracted international condemnation with key figures in the art world including British poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy and TV historian Simon Schama penning a letter to the Saudi authorities calling for his release. But officials in the Middle Eastern nation appear unrepentant and have lashed out at those who have compared their oppressive regime to that of ISIS.

GETTY Beheading is the execution method of choice in Saudi Arabia

Questioning the fairness of the courts is to question the justice of the Kingdom Saudi government source

A government source said: "The justice ministry will sue the person who described the sentencing of a man to death for apostasy as being 'ISIS-like'. "Questioning the fairness of the courts is to question the justice of the Kingdom and its judicial system based on Islamic law, which guarantees rights and ensures human dignity." He added that Saudi Arabia would not hesitate to take legal action against "any media that slandered the religious judiciary of the Kingdom", according to a report in the Al-Riyadh newspaper. The source did not identify the Twitter user or the possible penalty should they be found guilty.

Instagram The sentence handed out to Ashraf Fayadh has been widely criticised

Saudi Arabia's Justice Ministry or other officials could not immediately be reached for comment. Several people on the social media site have since Tweeted similar statements in a show of defiance. Saudi Arabia's justice system is based on Islamic Sharia law, and its judges are clerics from the kingdom's ultra- conservative Wahhabi school of Sunni Islam.