Court issues interim order to bar Saudi’s deportation, too late?

February 12, 2012

An official Saudi religious body declared Kashgari an apostate and he is likely to face a certain death upon his return to Saudi Arabia. - Reuters pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 12 — Malaysian human rights activists who won an interim court order are rushing to the airport to stop authorities from sending home a Saudi Arabian man to certain death.

Mohammad Najeeb A Kashgari, also known as Hamza Kashgari, has been declared an apostate by a religious body in his home country and is likely to be sentenced to death for allegedly mocking Islam and Prophet Muhammad through his comments on Twitter. 

It is considered blasphemous to insult the Prophet. Blasphemy is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia. 

“Justice Rohana Yusuf just gave interim order to stop deportation of Hamza Kasgari, now on our way to serve order on police, immigration and home ministry [sic],” Suaram representative Fadiah Nadwa Fikri said in a text message to The Malaysian Insider today. 

However, the action may be too late. 

Citing an anonymous government official news agency AFP reported that Malaysian authorities have already deported Kashgari earlier today. 

A Twitter user who goes by the name Zahra F Alsaud said in her account posted about 3pm Malaysian time that “Hamza Kashgari has been deported from Malaysia. He was picked up by Saudi officials at the airport.” 

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein reported that the nature of the charges against Kashgari are a matter for the Saudi Arabian authorities to decide and that Malaysian authorities would be repatriating him. 

“Malaysia has a long-standing arrangement by which individuals wanted by one country are extradited when detained by the other, and Mohammad Najeeb A. Kashgari will be repatriated under this arrangement” Hishammuddin said quoted saying by The Starnewspaper today. 

Hamza Kashgari, 23, was picked up on Thursday by the police after touching down at the KL International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang at the request of Saudi authorities after posting several comments that purportedly mocked Islam and Prophet Muhammad online.  

According to the Human Rights Watch, an official Saudi religious body declared Kashgari an apostate on February 8. 

“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 in a media statement. 

The 23-year-old Kashgari had allegedly posted the offending comments on his Twitter feed last weekend, which coincided with Prophet Muhammad’s birthday. 

It sparked thousands of outraged comments and calls for his execution on Twitter and other social networking sites, international news agency Reuters reported. 

The exact nature of his comments cannot be verified as he later deleted them, but media reported that one of them reflected his contradictory views of the Prophet.