REPORT: Saudi writer Turki al-Hamad in prison for allegedly insulting Islam

Arab societies seem to have taken ten steps backwards with the latest proof being the imprisonment of Saudi writer Turki al-Hamad, who has been incarcerated for over 10 days due to his tweets which were considered offensive to Islam and the Prophet Mohammad.    

This would not be the first time this Saudi intellectual goes to jail.   

The Saudi writer and scholar who is known for his critical writings on politics, religion and society tweeted the following “We have reached an era where we need someone to correct Mohammad’s doctrine; he continued “they fooled us and told us that it was the law of God while in fact it is nothing but the result of their ideas.” Al-Hamad also wrote “religions call for love, not hate.”  

These tweets spurred a widespread controversy on social media outlets and the Saudi Interior Minister ordered the arrest of Hamad, which prompted over 500 Saudi intellectuals to sign a petition sent to Saudi Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdul Aziz calling for the release of Dr. Hamad.   

Meanwhile, some Saudi fanatics called for the withdrawal of all his published material from the country’s libraries and placing him under house arrest.     

Turki al-Hamad has now joined the ranks of other activists including Hamza Kashgari, who has also been in detention since last February due to his tweets that were considered as offensive to the Prophet Mohammad. This arrest alongside Kashgari's dismisses Saudi Arabia from the freedom represented throughout the rise of the “Arab Spring” and instead places it among the gallows of the "dark ages".


For the full LBCI report, watch the video above [to be uploaded shortly]