Shankar Ponnam arrest in Saudi for Facebook post, Sushma Swaraj

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has said that she has asked Indian Ambassador in Saudi Arabia to take up the matter of arrest of a person of Telangana in the country for a Facebook post.

“I have asked our Ambassador in Saudi Arabia to take this up with the Saudi Government,” she tweeted tagging Indian Ambassador to Riyadh. Sushma’s tweet was in reply to an earlier Tweet seeking help for Shekhar.

According to reports, 38-year-old 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. It was a serious offence in Saudi Arabia.

Shankar Ponnam of Shalapalli village in Pegadapalli block of Telengana was arrested by Riyadh police in Saudi Arabia. His only crime was to post an FB post in which he showed Lord Shiva superimposed over picture of Islamic holy Kaba. He posted the pic on November 12 as alleged and was arrested by the Shariah police on November 21, under the charge of blasphemy after thorough investigations by the local agencies.

When Shankar’s mother and brother approached Gulf Returnees Welfare Society president Chand Pasha for assistance in the matter, he advised them to approach the Collector and added that “Shankar had committed serious crime as per Gulf Nation’s laws and he would be punished severely”.

As per Saudi Shariah law Ponnam Shankar, a Hindu, is obviously treated as a ‘kaffir’ and severe punishment of ‘blasphemy’ is meant public execution (beheading) on any black Friday as the norms of the state.