Saudi Arabia jailed tweeter for 6 months

Reports say Saudi Arabia jailed prominent political commentator and novelist Turki al-Hamad for six months over posting messages on Twitter that were deemed to be insulting to the Wahhabi government. Hamad’s arrest in December 2012 followed a tip by Saudi religious organizations. The arrest warrant was signed by Saudi Interior Minister Prince Mohammad bin Nayef bin Abdel Aziz. On June 5, attorney Walid Abulkhair said his client, Hamad, “returned home this morning.” The Saudi writer “has not been put on trial, and has not faced any charges,” Abulkhair stated. Some 500 supporters of Hamad, including Saudi intellectuals, had signed a petition in January, calling on Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz to order the release of the prominent author. Hamad’s messages on Twitter had been critical of radical Wahhabi clerics in Saudi Arabia, whom he claimed were misinterpreting and twisting the “message of love” by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). The Saudi writer also characterized the emergence of Wahhabism as “a neo-Nazism on the rise in the Arab world.” Last year, Saudi officials also arrested young blogger Hamza Kashgari over ‘blasphemy’ charges.