Hamza Kashgari, the twenty-three-year-old Saudi blogger whose controversial tweets about the Prophet Muhammed last weekend incited controversy among religious conservatives in the Middle East, has been returned to Saudi Arabia at the request of the Saudi government.
He was detained by authorities at Kuala Lumpr International Airport Thursday morning while attempting to catch a flight to seek asylum in New Zealand.
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Malaysia has defended its actions despite protestations from international rights groups, which fear that Kashgari will face the death penalty for blasphemy in his home country.
"I will not allow Malaysia to be seen as a safe country for terrorists and those who are wanted by their countries of origin, and also be seen as a transit county," Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said in a statement recorded by the AP. He added that fears Kashgari could be tortured and killed if he was returned are "ridiculous" because Saudi Arabia is a respectable country.
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The Saudi government has not yet disclosed any details about where and in what context Kashgari is being held, nor whether he will face trial.
"The cold hard truth is that Malaysia has bent over backwards to please Saudi Arabia, breached international law by not allowing Hamza to seek asylum and instead handed him on a silver platter to his persecutors and condemned him to torture and near certain death," international human rights group Lawyers of Liberty said in a statement posted on its website.
Kashgari, a former columnist for the Al Bilad newspaper and a blogger, sent a series of tweets commemorating the Prophet Muhammed's birthday the weekend before last. “On your birthday, I shall not bow to you. I shall not kiss your hand. Rather, I shall shake it as equals do, and smile at you as you smile at me. I shall speak to you as a friend, no more,” were among the tweets he sent.
Angry comments erupted on Twitter -- more than 30,000 in under 24 hours, says Reuters --- and a Facebook page titled "Saudi people want punishment for Hamza Kashgari" now has more than 20,000 members.
Kashgari deleted the tweets six hours later and issued a long apology. He left Saudi Arabia early last week, fearing for his safety after his address was posted on YouTube, the Wall Street Journal reported.
In an interview with Reuters, Saudi lawyer Sulaiman al-Jomaii said Kashgari is certain to face harsh punishment, but will likely escape the death penalty if he repents in court.
"His case is dependent on his repentance. If he repents (in court) then it will be as if he has not committed a crime and there is no Saudi law that details a punishment for his offense if he repents," Jomaii said.
Kashgari already defended his actions in an interview with The Daily Beast before his arrest, saying, “I was demanding my right to practice the most basic human rights — freedom of expression and thought — so nothing was done in vain.”
This story originally published on Mashable here.
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