Bahrain Mirror: A Jordanian court on Tuesday sentenced to death an extremist man accused of killing Jordanian writer Nahed Hattar, according to AFP.

Nahed Hattar was hit by three bullets on the steps of the court where he had been on trial for insulting Islam after he shared a cartoon on social media that mocked Islamists.

His 49-year-old killer, Riyad Ismail, a computer engineer who worked for the education ministry, was arrested at the scene and charged with "premeditated murder, terrorism and possession of an illegal firearm."

On Tuesday Ismail appeared before the military court, bearded, handcuffed and wearing a brown prison uniform to hear the judge at the state security court sentence him to "death by hanging".

Judge Ziad al-Edwan said he was sentenced "for having carried out deadly terrorist act, incitement, premeditated murder and illegal possession of a firearm."

The court also sentenced the man who sold Ismail the gun and the man who introduced him to the weapon merchant to one year in jail each.

Hattar, a 56-year-old writer, had been arrested on Aug 13 after posting a cartoon on Facebook under the title "God of Daesh" (the Islamic State jihadist group). He was later released on bail.

He explained on Facebook that the cartoon made fun of "terrorists and how they imagine God and heaven, and does not insult God in any way".

He was gunned down on Sept 25.

Hattar is also known for his stances against "Saudi policies and its terrorist tools".

He had even expressed his opposition against the Saudi military interference in Bahrain in one of his articles, in which he said, "As an Arab, I apologize for this small civilized peaceful people (Bahraini people), who is left for the Saudi troll to close the door for political and social progress."

Arabic Version