Vishnu Dev Radhakrishnan, the engineer from Kerala who in 2018 was jailed for 10 years in Saudi Arabia for alleged blasphemy against Islam, has been released early and deported to Bharat. The fine of 1.5 lakhs SAR levied on Vishnu has also been waived off.

This good news was shared with HinduPost by Vishnu’s father, ex-Indian Air Force officer Radhakrishnan Nair, who informed us that Vishnu is expected back home today in Alappuzha, Kerala.

Vishnu, a mechanical engineer working for state-owned Saudi Aramco, was imprisoned under Saudi Arabia’s draconian blasphemy laws after he replied to a London-based Muslim woman’s derogatory jibe at Bhagwan Shiva during a private Twitter conversation. His father believes that the screenshot of this exchange was reported to the company authorities by some Kerala Muslims working there, who nursed a grudge against Vishnu and Hindus in general.

Vishnu was initially questioned & detained for 15 days by Aramco’s security. He was told that he will be sent back home. But instead of deporting him or handing him over to the Bharatiya embassy, Aramco handed him over to Saudi Police, and he was soon sentenced to a harsh 10-year jail sentence and also fined 1.5 lakhs Saudi Riyals, for what was nothing more than a Twitter argument.

Vishnu’s heart-broken family, which includes his parents and sister, ran from pillar to post in Bharat to plead for his release, to no avail. The attitude of the Indian Embassy/Consulate officials was very disappointing, said the father.

“They were of no help…one consular officer was acting funny. When I asked for help in at least waiving the fine, he told me to use my pension to pay the penalty and not to beg the Saudi government,” Shri Radhakrishna told us. He also reached out to V Muraleedharan, Minister of State for External Affairs of India, and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, but to no avail.

Finally, when Shri Radhakrishnan shared his story on Twitter, one Keralite man named Sandeep reached out to him, and connected him to Nouf Marwaai. A Saudi citizen, Nouf is the founder of the Arab Yoga Foundation in Saudi Arabia. She has contributed to the legalization of Yoga and to it receiving official recognition in Saudi Arabia. She was awarded Bharat’s fourth highest civilian award the Padma Shri in 2018.

Nouf appointed an advocate for Vishnu and appealed to the Saudi authorities for his early release. It was her efforts that finally bore fruit and led to Vishnu’s early release, says his father. The penalty imposed on Vishnu has also been waived off.

Shri Radhakrishnan further informed us that many Malayali so-called social activists had in fact told him to keep quiet and not to raise the matter as ‘Saudi may increase the punishment’. But Nouf said if the appeal had been submitted earlier, he would likely have been pardoned sooner.

In particular, he mentioned the dubious role of two Kerala activists – a Hindu affiliated to CPI (Communist Party of India) and a Muslim affiliated to CPM – who were asking for lakhs of rupees to ostensibly hire an advocate for Vishnu. “They were not doing anything to help me,” said Shri Radhakrishnan.

In 2021, OpIndia had reported that some Malayali Muslims had also pressurized Vishnu to convert to Islam in a bid to get his sentence reduced. But Vishnu rejected this outright.

To our question on how Vishnu was treated in jail, the father replied, “Vishnu did not face any issues in jail, and the jail governor told our advocate that he was a very well-behaved fellow.”

When asked what his advice would to be Hindus looking to work in the Middle East, he said “Hindus working there should be careful, and not expect anything. If anyone is going to trap you in such cases, it will likely be an Indian (Islamist).”

Incidentally, in 2021, a Hindu AC technician Harish Bangera from Karnataka was released after spending close to two years in a Saudi prison on similar ‘blasphemy’ charges. Harish had been trapped in a false case by two Muslim brothers from Moodabidri, Abdul Huyez and Abdul Thuyez, who created a fake Facebook (FB) account in his name and then made derogatory comments against the Saudi crown prince and Mecca.

“We are all very happy and just waiting for Vishnu to arrive home. He is 33 years, and has his life ahead of him,” Shri Radhakrishnan signed off.