Manama: Police in the Saudi capital Riyadh have arrested an Indian man who posted a picture of a Hindu deity sitting on the Ka’aba, the cuboid building at the centre of Islam’s most sacred mosque.
Police arrested the Indian national in his 40s, who works as an agriculture engineer.
“Not only did he defame the Ka’aba but he posted it on social media indicating he was proud of his actions,” a spokesperson for the Riyadh police said.
Thousands of social media users have called for action against the person behind the picture that went viral on the Internet.
Last year, an Indian national was detained in Saudi Arabia after he posted a picture on a social network showing the Grand Mosque in Makkah as a Hindu temple.
The picture, displayed on Facebook, showed Al Masjid Al Haram, but instead of the Ka’aba, there were Hindu symbols.
A Saudi national, shocked by the picture, alerted the authorities and an investigation was launched.
The suspect, who was arrested by the police at the airport, admitted the social network page was his, but said that he had seen a link to the picture on another account and that he had to click “Like” to enable him to see it.
The picture was automatically loaded onto his account for his followers to see, he added.
However, investigators decided that he was guilty of breaking the anti-cybercrime law by promoting an offensive picture.
Under the law, anyone who is involved in the production, preparation, transmission, or storage of material impinging on public order, religious values, public morals, and privacy, through the information network or computers, can be jailed up to five years and made to pay a fine of up to 3 million riyals (Dh2.94 million.)
