Saudi Arabia used Interpol’s system to get journalist arrested in Malaysia for insulting the Prophet Muhammad on Twitter
Owen Bowcott
The Guardian [UK]
10 February 2012
Interpol has been accused of abusing its powers after Saudi Arabia allegedly used the organisation’s red notice system to get a journalist arrested in Malaysia for insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
Police in Kuala Lumpur said Hamza Kashgari, 23, was detained at the airport “following a request made to us by Interpol” the international police cooperation agency, on behalf of the Saudi authorities.
Interpol later denied that its notice system had been involved in the arrest of Kashgari. A spokesperson said: “The assertion that Saudi Arabia used Interpol’s system in this case is wholly misleading and erroneous.”
Kashgari, a newspaper columnist, fled Saudi Arabia after posting a tweet on the prophet’s birthday that sparked more than 30,000 responses and several death threats. The posting, which was later deleted, read: “I have loved things about you and I have hated things about you and there is a lot I don’t understand about you … I will not pray for you.”
More than 13,000 people joined a Facebook page titled “The Saudi People Demand the Execution of Hamza Kashgari”.
Read the rest at The Guardian.
