Saudi columnist accused of blasphemy is freed: report

A Saudi newspaper writer jailed in the Gulf kingdom without trial on charges of apostasy has been freed, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Sabq Arabic language daily said Hamza Kashgari, 24, wrote on his Twitter page just after his release: “Good morning to hope…to souls which never die…thanks God.”

The paper quoted his lawyer Abdul Rahman Al Lahim as saying Kashgari was freed on Tuesday morning.

It quoted Kashagari’s friend Abdul Aziz Qassimi as saying he had received a phone call from Kashgari’s mother confirming his release.

“Sources in the Ministry of Justice denied Kashgari’s release and said he has not been tried yet,” the paper said, adding that the release was confirmed by other friends.

Kashgari, who works for the Saudi Albilad Arabic language daily, fled to Malaysia in early 2012 after King Abdullah ordered his arrest on charges of apostasy in an article he wrote on Twitter, seen by many Muslim scholars as an insult of The Prophet (PBUH). A few days later, he was deported to the kingdom and arrested on arrival.

Speculation mounted after his arrest that Kashgari could be executed following statements by a senior Saudi Muslim cleric that the writer would be sentenced to death for apostasy. Sheikh Saleh bin Fowzan Al Fowzan, a member of the 7-man supreme committee of scholars in Saudi Arabia, said it has been established in Islam that anyone who insults God or the Prophet should be killed.

“Repenting will not work…any man who insults God or our Prophet (PBUH) should be killed,” he said. “But we should first verify that this man (Kashgari) did insult Prophet Mohammed in his article on Twitter…if verified, then he must be killed.”

 

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