A 23-year-old partially blind man has alleged that he has gone completely deaf in one years after he was beaten repeatedly by the police in prison until he signed a confession to having participated in anti-government protests in Shia-dominated sections in 2011.

Munir al-Adam, a former steel cable worker, has admitted to being partially deaf in the ear until he was arrested.

Daily Mail

In a statement, his family has rejected the verdict and claimed that he had been accused of “sending texts” when he was too poor to own a mobile phone.

The sentence comes within a year of the execution of 47 supporters of Al-Qaeda in a single day. According to reports, the number of beheadings in Saudi Arabia reached 108 this year, putting the country, which has a population of nearly 29 million people, on track to exceed its 2015 execution total.

“Munir Adam’s appalling case illustrates how the Saudi authorities are all too happy to subject the most vulnerable people to the swordsman’s blade,” said Maya Foa, of Reprieve. “Saudi Arabia’s close allies, including the UK, must urge the kingdom to release Munir, along with juveniles and others who were sentenced to death for protesting.”

“In Saudi Arabia, where people are routinely sentenced to death after grossly unfair trials, we have seen a dramatic surge in the number of executions in the past two years which has shown no sign of abating in 2016,” she had told The Independent in July.

“This clearly demonstrates that Saudi Arabia’s authorities are increasingly out of step with a global trend of states moving away from the death penalty.

“Saudi Arabia’s authorities must end their reliance on this cruel, inhuman and degrading form of punishment immediately.”