Al Jazeera
Malaysia has deported a young Saudi journalist who is wanted in his home country over Twitter posts about the Prophet Mohammad that sparked calls for his execution, the Malaysian government has confirmed.
Hamza Kashgari, who was detained in Malaysia on Thursday after fleeing Saudi Arabia, left the country in the custody of Saudi officials on Sunday, a statement of the Malaysian Home Ministery said.
Kashgari, a 23-year-old Jeddah-based newspaper columnist, fled to Muslim-majority Malaysia after making comments on the microblogging site deemed insulting to the Prophet Mohammed, which fuelled a surge of outrage in the kingdom.
Insulting the prophet is considered blasphemous in Islam and is a crime punishable by death in Saudi Arabia.
The Home Ministry statement said: "Malaysia has a long-standing arrangement by which individuals wanted by one country are extradited when detained by the other, and Mohammad Najeeb A. [Hamza] Kashgari will be repatriated under this arrangement.
"The nature of the charges against the individual in this case are a matter for the Saudi Arabian authorities."
Muhammad Afiq Mohamad Nor, a lawyer appointed by Kashgari's family, said the move was unlawful because he had obtained a court order to block the deportation.
"We are concerned that he would not face a fair trial back home and that he could face the death penalty if he is charged with apostasy, the lawyer told the Associated Press news agency.
Clerics and locals in the kingdom have called for Kashgari's death for three comments he made on Twitter on the occasion of the Prophet Muhammad's birthday.
Kashgari, who had originally apologised for his comments, said in an interview he was being made a "scapegoat for a larger conflict" over his comments.
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