KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian police have arrested a Saudi blogger who fled his country after making insulting comments on Twitter about the Last Prophet (pbuh), prompting a surge of online outrage and calls for his execution.
"It is confirmed that Malaysian police have detained the Saudi writer. This arrest was part of an Interpol operation which the Malaysian police were a part of," a police spokesman told Reuters on Friday.
He gave no further details and would not comment on whether the writer, Hamza Kashghari, would be extradited to Saudi Arabia.
The 23-year-old Kashgari reportedly posted the comments on his Twitter feed on Saturday, drawing thousands of outraged comments on Twitter and other social networking sites.
Kashgari later said in an interview that he was being made a "scapegoat for a larger conflict" over his comments.
"I view my actions as part of a process toward freedom," Kashgari was quoted as saying in the interview with the Daily Beast website.
"I was demanding my right to practice the most basic human rights — freedom of expression and thought - so nothing was done in vain."
Human rights group urges Malaysia not to deport Saudi journalist
An international human rights group on Saturday urged Malaysia not to deport a Saudi journalist accused of making comments on Twitter that allegedly insulted Islam and the Prophet Mohammed.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch said Hamza Kashgari, 23, a Jeddah-based newspaper columnist, would face almost certain conviction and a death sentence for apostasy if he is sent back to Saudi Arabia.
'Saudi clerics have already made up their up mind that Kashgari is an apostate who must face punishment,' said Christoph Wilcke, senior Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch.
'The Malaysian government should not be complicit in sealing Kashgari's fate by sending him back,' he added.
Kashgari fled Saudi Arabia to Malaysia on Tuesday after a storm of outrage erupted when he published over a fictitious conversation with the Prophet Mohammed on his Twitter account.
On February 8, an official Saudi religious body declared him an apostate.
Malaysian Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Kashgari was detained Thursday in the departure hall of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport at the request of Saudi authorities.
'The Malaysian police will contact their counterparts (in Saudi Arabia) on the next course of action,' he said.
A lawyer for Kashgari said he had not yet been granted permission to see his client in police custody in Malaysia's capital, according to Human Rights Watch.
The group also said officials for the United Nations refugee agency had sought access to Kashgari without success.
Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur, February 11, 2012
