Hamza Kashgari’s Deportation a Serious Rights Violation — Malay Insider
The recent apprehension and deportation of Saudi blogger Hamza Kashgari has set off a debate within Malaysia. You will recall that Kashgari is incarcerated in Saudi Arabia for allegedly insulting the Prophet with a series of 3 Tweets. As I mentioned in my first post on Kashgari’s fate, I think there will be growing furor amongst bloggers and mainstream journalists, and ultimately a lot of pressure brought to bear on the Saudi regime. The likely outcome is not an unconditional release of Mr Kashgari, but rather a “plea agreement”, in which he will forced to admit some level of wrongdoing and beg forgiveness. Then he will be flogged and expelled from the country, likely to New Zealand, where he had been headed before his arrest in Kuala Lumpur.
In allowing the deportation of the 23-year-old writer to the custody of Saudi Arabian authorities, despite his claims that he feared threats to his life and intended to seek asylum in New Zealand, the Malaysian government has indicated that it will ignore any human rights or humanitarian considerations relating to asylum seekers in favour of any formal or informal agreement to extradite any foreign national on a government black list.
This action, in compliance with an apparently unofficial and dubious agreement (AFP, February 12, 2012) with the Saudi government, reveals a disgraceful, subservient willingness of the Malaysian government to do the bidding of a foreign government without question, to keep in that government’s favour.
Such actions not only reflect badly on Malaysia as a member of the UN Human Rights Council but serves to bring down the prestige of our country in the eyes of the international community. This also justifies the fears of human rights and refugee advocates that Malaysia has no intention to observe, promote or protect the dignity and rights of any asylum seeker or refugee, notwithstanding all the impressive pledges the government has made publicly, nationally and internationally.
The crime of which Hamza Kashgari (Mohamad Najeeb A. Kashgari) is charged is one rather incomprehensible to those outside the borders of Saudi Arabia and something many Muslims and non-Muslims in Malaysia see as forgivable and probably forgettable.