A Saudi blogger who caused outrage in the Gulf kingdom with comments on twitter deemed insulting to the Prophet Muhammad, has been arrested by Malaysian police after fleeing Saudi Arabia following calls for his execution.
Hamza Kashgari was headed to New Zealand where he hoped to gain political asylum when he was arrested upon arrival at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Thursday.
A police spokesman confirmed to the Reuters news agency that Malaysian police had detained the 23-year-old columnist.
"This arrest was part of an Interpol operation which the Malaysian police were a part of," said the spokesman.
No further details were provided on whether the writer from the western city of Jeddah would be extradited to Saudi Arabia.
Clerics and locals in the kingdom have called for Kashgari's death for three comments he made on the micro-blogging service on the occasion of the Prophet Muhammad's birthday.
"On your birthday, I find you wherever I turn. I will say that I have loved aspects of you, hated others, and could not understand many more," read one tweet posted on Saturday.
All three tweets were later deleted by Kashgari, who received over 30,000 responses within a day of the postings
'Scapegoat'
The online reaction to Kashgari's posts included tweets with the hashtag #HamzaKashgari, youtube videos - including one revealing his home address - and a Facebook group with 12,000 members, called "The Saudi People Demand the Execution of Hamza Kashgari."
Kashgari, who had originally apologised for his comments, said in an interview he was being made a "scapegoat for a larger conflict" over his comments.
In an interview with the Daily Beast, a US website, Kashgari said: "I was demanding my right to practice the most basic human rights - freedom of expression and thought - so nothing was done in vain."
Kashgari has since deleted his twitter account.
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.:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder
0 comments:
Post a Comment
NO ADVERTISING ACCEPTED ON COMMENTS