12 Feb 12 | Asia and Pacific, Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
Malaysian authorities have deported a Saudi journalist accused of insulting the prophet Mohammed on Twitter, it was reported today. Newspaper columnist Hamza Kashgari fled Saudi Arabia after tweeting a mock conversation between himself and the prophet Mohammed last week that sparked thousands of responses, including death threats. He was arrested and detained upon his arrival in Malaysia last Wednesday. Insulting the prophet is considered blasphemous in Islam and is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia.
10 Feb 12 | Index Index, minipost
A Saudi journalist was arrested in Malaysia on Wednesday night after a request by Interpol on behalf of Saudi authorities. Hamza Kashgari tweeted a mock conversation between himself and the prophet Mohammed last week, and fled the kingdom after he received thousands of death threats. Kashgari was en route to New Zealand when he was arrested. Saudi Arabia is seeking his extradition in order to try him for blasphemy.
20 Jan 12 | Asia and Pacific, Index Index, minipost
Political cartoonist Zunar (Zulkifli Anwar Ulhaque) appeared at the Kuala Lumpur High Court this week for the first hearing of a civil suit in which he challenges the Malaysian government and police for his arrest and detention on 24 September 2010. Zunar is seeking the return of confiscated property as well as aggravated losses and damages incurred in the raid of his office, during which police seized copies of his latest work, Cartoon-O-Phobia, and arrested him for sedition. The raid occurred just hours before the book’s launch.
09 Jan 12 | Asia and Pacific, Index Index, minipost, News and features
Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has been acquitted of charges of sodomy after a two-year court battle. A judge ruled today that DNA evidence used by prosecution was unreliable. Anwar was first prosecuted after a former male aide accused the politician of sodomising him in 2008. Anwar has long denied the charges, calling them “a vile and desperate attempt at character assassination” in a statement to the High Court in August of last year.
