RIYADH: Saudi blogger Hamza Kashghari, who had fled to Kuala Lumpur on Thursday after tweeting insulting comments about Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), was taken into custody as he arrived in Riyadh on Sunday night.
It followed Kashghari’s deportation by Malaysian authorities. The 23-year-old man will face charges of blasphemy, informed sources told Arab News.
The sources said Kashghari was accompanied by Saudi officials on his flight to King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh. The sources explained that it was a standing rule in Malaysia to deport people wanted to face justice in their countries. Kashghari escaped the Kingdom after realizing that the deletion of his tweets and a subsequent tweet apologizing for the statements were not enough to stop leveling of charges against him.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has issued orders to arrest Kashghari and bring him to justice.
A large number of male and female bloggers from Saudi Arabia and abroad have called for Kashghari’s trial on charges of apostasy. Kashghari's tweets stirred an angry response in Saudi society and were met by denunciation and condemnation by a section of the Twitter community.
The Permanent Committee of Scholarly Research and Islamic Edicts (Ifta) in an official statement said anyone who dares to mock Allah, His Prophet or the religion should be tried on charges of apostasy.
Worshippers want Kashgari punished
MAKKAH: Imams of mosques in Makkah were unanimous in their Friday sermons on the necessity of bringing Saudi columnist and writer Hamza Kashgari to justice for making insulting comments about the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) on Twitter.
Kashgari fled to Malasyia after realizing that the deletion of his slanderous comments and the repentance he had announced in his tweets were not enough to save his neck. He was arrested on arrival at Kuala Lumpur airport on Thursday.
Worshippers, many of them in tears, were in agreement with their imams calling for bringing Kashgari to justice for his blasphemous tweets about the Prophet, local daily Al-Eqtisadiah reported Saturday. The article said the worshippers expressed happiness over the government's move to arrest the blogger and bring him to justice.
The Malaysian police confirmed the arrest of Kashgari as part of an Interpol operation under the request of Saudi Arabia but did not disclose if he would be extradited to his country.
The imams and the worshipers strongly denounced the slanderous comments against the Prophet and said anyone who dared to badmouth the Prophet should be severely punished to deter others from doing the same.
Some of the imams dedicated their entire Friday sermon to attacking the blogger and calling for his trial, while others strongly warned against insulting the Prophet in words or deeds. Some of the imams were not able to hold back their tears while defending the Prophet, recalling verses from the Qur'an warning against attacking Allah or His Prophet.
"The unison between the imams and the worshipers against this heinous act is a crystal-clear indication that attacking the Prophet is a red line no one should cross or come close to," a worshiper said. He did not want to be identified.
A number of worshipers said they were determined to file lawsuits against Kashgari in Shariah courts calling for his execution on charges of apostasy.
The 23-year-old Kashgari has become notorious overnight because of his sacrilegious tweets he had later deleted. Various sections of Saudi society have been asking for his immediate trial. A number of Saudis have also called for the trail of all those who tweeted support for Kashgari saying they were equally guilty.
"Those who supported the contents of Kashgari's tweets are considered criminal exactly like him," said Khaled Abu Rashid, a lawyer and a legal consultant. He said the sentence to be passed on Kahgari should be imposed on his supporters too.
The lawyer, however, said it was important to use the written texts to differentiate between two things in this case. "If the support was for general principles like freedom of expression, then this is a different matter but if the support was for the attacks against Allah and His Prophet, then the supporters should be tried for apostasy," he explained.
Abu Rashid said the court should use the text of the tweets to decide the nature of the support.
The newspaper noted that a number of well-known people and bloggers from Saudi Arabia and abroad were quick to lend their passionate support to Kashgari but said most of the supporters tried to downplay his crime. On the other hand, bloggers from a number of Arab and Islamic countries called for the execution of Kashgari for mocking Allah, His Prophet and the religion.
Individual and collective calls were made to the Prosecution and Investigations Commission to try Kashgari and all the bloggers who supported him in his blasphemy.
Source:
Arab News, Feb. 12, 2012
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Immediate freedom for Hamza Kashgari!
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia deported a Saudi Arabian blogger on Sunday, police said, despite fears voiced by human rights groups that he could face execution in his home country over Twitter comments he made that were deemed insulting to the Prophet Mohammad.
Hamza Kashgari, a 23-year-old columnist, sparked outrage in the oil-rich kingdom with comments posted on the Prophet's birthday a week ago that led some Islamic clerics to call for him to face the death penalty.
Kashgari fled the country, but was arrested by police in majority-Muslim Malaysia on Thursday as he transited through Kuala Lumpur international airport.
"The Saudi writer was repatriated to his home country this Sunday morning," a police spokesman told Reuters. "This is an internal Saudi matter that we cannot comment on."
Malaysia has a close affinity with many Middle Eastern nations through their shared religion. The Southeast Asian nation is also a U.S. ally and a leading global voice for moderate Islam, meaning that the decision to extradite Kashgari is certain to be controversial.
"Saudi clerics have already made up their mind that Kashgari is an apostate who must face punishment," Christoph Wilcke, senior Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement on Friday.
"The Malaysian government should not be complicit in sealing Kashgari's fate by sending him back."
Kashgari's lawyer in Malaysia, Mohammad Noor, told Reuters by telephone that he had obtained a court order to prevent the deportation, but had not been allowed to see his client.
"If the government of Malaysia deports him to Saudi Arabia, disrespecting the court order, this is clearly contempt of court, unlawful and unacceptable," he said.
The Star newspaper quoted Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein as saying that Kashgari had been repatriated and that the charges against him would be decided by Saudi authorities.
"Malaysia has a longstanding arrangement by which individuals wanted by one country are extradited when detained by the other," he was quoted as saying.
Blasphemy is a crime punishable by execution under Saudi Arabia's strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law. It is not a capital crime in Malaysia.
Reuters could not verify Kashgari's comments because he later deleted them, but media reported that one of them reflected his contradictory views of the Prophet - that he both loved and hated him.
Kashgari later said in an interview that he was being made a "scapegoat for a larger conflict" over his comments.
Click here to sign the petition
King Abdullah: Immediately release journalist Hamza Kashgari
After receiving numerous death threats following statements about the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) he had posted on Twitter, 23-year old journalist Hamza Kashgari left Saudi Arabia for Malaysia on February 6, 2012. Prominent clerics deemed Mr. Kashgari's statements to be insulting towards the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) and called for him to be tried for apostasy, which is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia. Malaysia denied Mr. Kashgari's request for political asylum and deported him back to Saudi Arabia on February 12. Mr. Kashgari is in custody in Saudi Arabia right now and could face the death penalty if he is charged with apostasy.
Details about the case are available from a wide range of news sources:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/malaysia-to-deport-saudi-journalist-accused-of-insulting-prophet-on-twitter/2012/02/12/gIQAztEn7Q_story.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/11/world/asia/malaysia-detains-saudi-over-twitter-posts-on-prophet.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/12/malaysia-deports-saudi-journalist-prophet
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9077491/Malaysia-deports-Saudi-blogger-despite-fear-of-execution.html
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/02/201221261818596507.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamza_Kashgari
By sharing his thoughts about the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) on Twitter, Mr. Kashgari peacefully exercised his right to freedom of expression.
We call on King Abdullah to show mercy, release Mr. Kashgari and allow him to leave the Kingdom. We further ask the government of Saudi Arabia to provide adequate protection to Mr. Kashgari while on Saudi Arabian soil.
Click here to sign the petition.
