Indian Man Arrested In Saudi Arabia For ‘Insulting’ Islamic Holy Site On Facebook

Saudi police arrested an Indian immigrant who allegedly disrespected Islam’s holiest shrine, the Kaaba, on Facebook, covering it with an image of Buddha, a local media outlet reported on Monday. The Kaaba, an ancient monument at the centre of the Al-Masjid al-Haram mosque in Mecca, is Islam's most sacred place.

“The region’s investigative department were able to capture and arrest a suspect, in his forties and who works in agriculture, who insulted our holy site,” stated the media spokesman for the Riyadh police. “He superimposed a picture of the Buddha on the Kaaba and posted on social media,” the spokesman added.

According to Al Arabiya news, “The police were able to identify and arrest the unnamed suspect at a farm in Al Majma'ah city.”

For decades, ultra-conservative Wahhabi clerics have been pushing the materialistic Saudi monarchy to enforce Islamic practices codified in medieval religious texts. Fearing a coup similar to the one successfully executed in 1979 by Shiite mullahs in Iran, the House of Saud has generally acquiesced to their demands.

With inputs from IANS