KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- A Saudi national who faces blasphemy charges and possible execution in his homeland is likely to be returned there, Malaysian officials said Friday.
Hamza Kashgari, 23, was arrested Thursday at the airport in Kuala Lumpur, The New York Times reported.
Kashgari, a columnist for Al-Bilad, a Saudi newspaper, caused a firestorm in Saudi Arabia by addressing posts on Twitter to the Prophet Mohammed. He apologized before his departure.
An official with the Malaysian Ministry for Foreign Affairs who did not want his name used said Kashgari is on a Saudi watch list.
Amnesty International called on Malaysia to allow Kashgari to see a lawyer and to reveal where he is being detained.
"We are calling on the Malaysian government to stop any deportation proceedings they may have started," said Cilina Nasser, who is with Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa program.
In Saudi Arabia, calls for Kashgari's execution were posted on Facebook and Twitter, The Wall Street Journal reported. One tweet called him a "dead man walking."
"Your duty is to defend our religion against those atheists and not let it pass by with no punishment -- you must write in the papers, in the Internet, and write the government, and not be silenced," cleric Nasser al-Omar said in an emotional call posted on YouTube.
