Hyderabad-born activist Zahack Tanvir thanks India after release from Saudi prison
Hyderabad: A popular Hyderabad-born activist Zahack Tanvir was released by the Saudi Arabia authorities, after he spent nearly a year in detention.
The 39-year-old activist was arrested and imprisoned in Saudi Arabia in December 2023 for allegedly posting anti-Pakistan content on social media. The activist took to social media to inform about his release and thanked India for their diplomatic efforts in securing his release.
Tanvir especially thanked the Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar and Indian diplomat Suhail Ejaz Khan. He also noted that the officials of the Indian Embassy frequently visited him in prison and helped him in every way possible.
“Indian Diplomacy Triumphed in My Case: I wholeheartedly thank the officials of @IndianEmbRiyadh and the officials at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) for their unprecedented support,” he wrote in his Facebook post.
The activist told The Print that he was arrested by the Saudi police following a complaint from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). He also said he was unaware that airing his views against Pakistan’s policies was prohibited in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Elaborating on his ordeal during detention, Tanvir said the authorities interrogated him without informing the charges against him. He claimed that the Saudi police made a case against him based on his posts on Facebook and X in which he had commented about “Pakistan’s promotion of extremist elements and the detention of Afghan children in Pak jails.”
In March 2024, the court sentenced him to a five-year prison sentence for five social media posts. Tanvir’s legal team contested the charges and it was eventually reduced to one year. Later, the Supreme Court heard the matter and exonerated him in the case.
