An Open Atheist in Yemen Has Reportedly Been Shot and Killed

“They accuse me of atheism!
Oh you people, I see God in the flowers,
And you see Him in the graveyards,
That is the difference between me and you.”

That was one of the Facebook messages posted  by Omar Mohammad Bataweel, a young citizen of Yemen. It was brave, and very very risky.

On Sunday, according to al-Bab and al-Araby, local vigilantes, following their prophet’s pronouncement “Whosoever changes his religion, kill him,” abducted Bataweel and shot him in the head.

A young man in the southern Yemeni city of Aden has reportedly been shot dead by religious extremists. Omar Mohammad Bataweel had been accused of being an atheist due to several Facebook posts deemed by some Yemenis to be “critical of Islam”. He was abducted outside his home in the Crater district of Aden on Sunday evening, al-Bab reported. The next day his body was found in the Sheikh Othman district by local residents.

A source close to Bataweel told local media the young man had received death threats from extremists because of comments on social media that some viewed as critical or against Islam. Yemeni Nobel Peace Laureate Tawakkol Karman condemned the brutal murder saying it was carried out by extremist vigilantes.

“The crime of Omar’s murder in Aden for apostasy is a heinous act of terrorism that will happen again if takfiri ideology is not combated. The local authorities and government must find the killers and put them on trial,” she said on Facebook.

Renouncing Islam or apostasy is a crime punishable by death in Yemen as well as Saudi Arabia, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates, but not commonly implemented by authorities.

Ain’t Islam grand?

(Image via Facebook)