An Alappuzha native has been jailed for 10 years in Saudi Arabia for his tweets criticising Prophet Mohammed.
According to Radhakrishnan Nair, his son Vishnu Dev Radhakrishnan has been languishing in a jail since June 2018.
In a letter sent by the Consular, Passport and Visa Division of the Ministry of External Affairs, to Vishnu’s family, it was mentioned that he was arrested for “cybercrime pertaining to blasphemy and spreading messages against the Kingdom through social media.”
Mr. Nair said his son had befriended a Muslim woman in the U.K. on Twitter. “The woman spoke against Hindu gods in one of her conversations on Twitter. In reply, Vishnu tweeted something against the Prophet. He was arrested on June 7, 2018. On September 13, he was given a five-year jail term and a penalty of 1.5 lakh Saudi Riyal. His sentence was increased to 10 years on January 24,” he said.
Plea for help
Mr. Nair said that he had sought the help of several politicians to get his son released from jail, but to no avail. Vishnu was working as an engineer at Nasser S. Al-Hajri Corporation, a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco, before his arrest.
