External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday assured assistance to a man arrested in Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh over Facebook post. “I have asked our Ambassador in Saudi Arabia to take this up with the Saudi Government,” she tweeted tagging Indian Embassdor to Riyadh. Sushma’s tweet was in reply to an erlier Tweet seeking help for Shekhar. Telangana’s Shankar Ponnam, who is an immigrant to Saudi, has been arrested for allegedly disrespecting the “Kaaba”, a sacred site in Islam, in a Facebook post.
As per some reports, 38-year-old Shankar, who is an agricultural engineer by profession, allegedly superimposed an image of Buddha over Islam’s holy site, something considered as an offence in the country. Situated in centre of al-Masjid-al-Haram or the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Kaaba is considered the most sacred place in Islam. , the Kaaba is a structure that is situated in the centre of al-Masjid-al-Haram or the Grand Mosque in Mecca, around which pilgrims pray.
Shankar had reportedly posted the photo on November 12. Reports also say that Shankar was first beaten up by some locales and when who even filmed and posted the video on social networking sites.
