DHAKA: A Saudi blogger jailed last year for publishing an imaginary conversation with Islam’s Prophet Muhammad on Twitter walked free early on Tuesday, his friend and a lawyer said, though there was no comment from the government.

Hamza Kashgari fled Saudi Arabia for Malaysia in February last year after his tweets enraged some conservative Muslims and triggered death threats.

He was extradited back to the kingdom days later and imprisoned.

‘He was freed this morning,’ the 24-year-old`s friend told media, 20 months after the detention, but he declined to comment further, reports The Straits Times.

Prominent human rights lawyer Abdulrahman Allahim congratulated Kashgari on his release on Twitter.

Kashgari, a former columnist in the kingdom’s al-Bilad newspaper, issued a long public apology after deleting the messages, and his family said he had repented.

The authorities did not make any formal charges against him public.

BDST: 1622 HRS, OCT 29, 2013
RoR/RK