Hamza Kashgari is a twenty-three-year-old Saudi-born poet who formerly worked as a columnist for the Saudi daily newspaper al-Bilad. In February 2012, Kashgari posted messages on Twitter in which he imagined himself being in conversation with the Prophet Muhammad. Soon after, Saudi King Abdullah ordered that Kashgari be arrested “for crossing red lines and denigrating religious beliefs in God and His Prophet.”

Kashgari fled Saudi Arabia to seek political asylum in New Zealand and Malaysia. However, Kashgari was eventually arrested and extradited back home, where he was being held and faced charges as severe as the death penalty.

Fortunately, Kashgari was finally released on October 29, 2013.

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