by Chris Bodenner
To commemorate the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday last week, Hamza Kashgari, a 23-year-old Saudi writer, tweeted some unorthodox compliments about the prophet. Cue shitstorm:
Twitter quickly flooded with responses to Kashgari, registering more than 30,000 within a day. He was accused of blasphemy, and enraged Saudis called for his death. By the time he removed the tweets and issued a long apology, backtracking on his comments and begging for forgiveness, the danger had already expanded beyond the Web. Someone posted Kashgari’s home address in a YouTube video, and, his friends say, vigilantes came looking for him at his local mosque.
Then the Saudi government stepped in – to target Kashgari as well. Mike Giglio's piece is worth reading in full.
The Dish 