Four NRIs imprisoned in Saudi for social media post move closer to freedom

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Jeddah: Four Indian expatriates, who completed their jail terms after being imprisoned for posting religious derogatory remarks on social media are waiting to be repatriated from Saudi Arabia.

The Indians, two hailing from Uttar Pradesh and one each from Punjab and Bihar, all aged below 30 years, were working in a firm in Asir region in the southern part of the country. Three of them made the derogatory comments while one recorded it on mobile phone, with the clip later surfacing on a social media platform.

The police arrested all four, who confessed to their crime. The court sentenced them to be deported from the Kingdom after a five month and five days jail term and a penalty of a thousand Riyals.

The four completed their jail term in December 2021. However, they failed to pay the penalty since they did not have any money. As a result, they had to spend more time in prison than the actual sentence, according to sources.

Local Saudi authorities, explaining their financial situation, informed about the imprisoned inmates to higher authorities, who in turn waived off the penalty recently, paving the way for them to walk free, the sources added.

Some expatriates, who are social media savvy, land into trouble by crossing lines. In the past, a comment in a WhatsApp group led to the arrest of an Indian who was a senior management executive, who then had to spend nearly over a year behind bars in the eastern province. Another NRI spent time in jail for appealing through social media for his repatriation.
Also, some others who created community groups that were found contrary to values also landed in jail.

Of late, there has been a marked increase in the number of offensive, derogatory posts by a few Indians living in Gulf countries, with many tracing the vitriol back to the atmosphere of hate certain sections of the Indian media have tried to create back home.

Saudi Arabia shows zero tolerance on misuse of social media. There will be imprisonment of five years and Saudi Riyal 3 million fine for producing abusive content, according to law. Previously authorities have warned that the production, preparation, sending, or storage of anything that would prejudice public order, religious values, public morals, or the sanctity of private life, through the information network, or a computer, indicating that the perpetrator would be liable to imprisonment for up to 5 years and a fine of up to 3 million riyals, or one of these two penalties.