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Saudi Arabia is set to behead a disabled man who is partially blind and deaf for taking part in an anti-government protest.

Munir Adam, 23, has been sentenced to death for "attacks on police" and other offences during protests in 2011.

His distraught family said he was tortured into confessing before his sentence at a special criminal court in Riyadh.

In a statement they said he had only signed a document after being beaten so hard he lost the remaining hearing in one ear and was accused of sending texts when he was too poor to own a mobile phone.

(Image: PA)

Anti-death penalty group Reprieve told The Times : "Munir Adams's appalling case illustrates how the Saudi authorities are all too happy to subject the most vulnerable people to the swordsman's blade."

Reprieve, who said that minors were among 47 alleged al-Qaeda supporters who were executed in a single day in January, urged Saudi Arabia's allies – including the UK – to condemn the ruling.

Mr Adam was first detained in 2012 for taking part in protests in his Shia-dominated home town of Qatif when was just 18.

His family added that he a simple and loving family man who was diabled due to an accident when he was six.

He is currently appealing against his sentence and was never allowed to speak to a lawyer, Reprieve claim.