The United Nations has appointed an official from Saudi Arabia to head a panel on human rights, inviting global criticism for ignoring the kingdom's poor human rights record. 

Saudi Arabia's ambassador in Geneva Faisal bin Hassan Trad will head a panel of the UN Human Rights Council that works on setting human rights standards globally.  

The move comes even after Saudi Arabia strongly rejected the UN secretary-general's plea to scrap the death penalty.

Saudi Arabia has already executed more than 130 people till September this year at a rate of nearly one execution every second day.

Saudi Arabia's human rights record is often compared to that of the Islamic State, given that it practices beheading and crucifixion and even amputation as forms of punishment. 

"It is scandalous that the UN chose a country that has beheaded more people this year than ISIS to be head of a key human rights panel," UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer said on the NGO website. 

Twitterati vented harsh criticism against the United Nations for choosing a Saudi representative to head its human rights panel, especially amidst outrage over its punishment to blogger Raif Badawai and the scheduled execution of Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, who was 17 years old when he was arrested for joining anti-government protests. 

Here are some Twitter reactions -

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