A court in 'Ar'ar in northern Saudi Arabia has sentenced a foreign Arab national to death for having desecrated the Koran. The three judges imposed the Koranic death sentence on the man, a pharmacist who is said to be an Egyptian, after he was found guilty of the charges brought against him.

The Saudi police had opened their investigation after they received complaints that copies of the Koran had been found in a lavatory in the mosque. After finding the man guilty, the court also ruled that he is an apostate (though according to other reports he may be a Christian).

In a somewhat strange aside, fellow prisoners in the 'Ar'ar jail are reported to have complained that the man also washes himself in the shower with milk.

Okaz, Saudi Arabia, April 18, 2007