Saudi writer remains in jail without trial

A Saudi newspaper write arrested last year on charges of apostasy is still in prison and has not been tried yet, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

Sabq quoted an unnamed official at the Saudi Ministry of Justice as denying reports that Hamza Kashgari has officially repented and that a Ministry’s “legal committee” has endorsed his declaration of repentance.
“There is no committee in such a name in the Ministry….there was no endorsement of any kind of declaration,” the official told the Arabic language daily.

It said Kashgari, 24, remained in prison but has not been charged or tried yet, adding that he made a short statement of repentance at a lower court last year.

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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