Vishnu Dev Radhakrishnan, a native of India living in Saudi Arabia, made disparaging remarks about the Prophet Muhammad in an exchange on Twitter. Subsequently, he was arrested and sentenced to a fine and ten years' imprisonment.
Radhakrishnan Nair (father)
In June 2018, Vishnu Dev Radhakrishnan was arrested for several tweets “criticizing Saudi Arabia’s legal system” and—more importantly—the Prophet Muhammad. A native of India, he had been working as an engineer in Saudi Arabia for several years. The arrest apparently stemmed from an argument Vishnu, a Hindu, got into with a Muslim woman, which escalated.
“During one of their conversations on Twitter, the woman spoke something against lord Shiva. To counter her argument, he tweeted something against prophet Mohammed and asked if her god is merciful, why were Yemen schools bombed.” - Radhakrishnan Nair, Vishnu’s father
In September of that same year, Vishnu was found guilty and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and a large fine. However, the prosecution was not satisfied with this ruling, and they appealed the case to seek a more punitive sentence. They got their wish: in January 2019, Vishnu’s sentence was extended to ten years, and the size of his fine was increased.
Vishnu has not denied the charges against him, but he has apologized for the “wrongs” he did. According to his father, he “said that he apologizes to all Muslims in the world for his mistake.” His father has been attempting to have him released and returned to India, but thus far to no avail.
Kerala man sentenced to 10 yrs for tweet against Saudi, Prophet: Father seeks help - The News Minute
'Blasphemous' tweet on Prophet lands Kerala youth in Saudi jail - New Indian Express
Of Saudi Arabia's 34 million citizens, 85-90% are Sunni Muslim, which, despite nearly a million Christian foreign workers, is the only religion legally allowed to be practiced. It has no written criminal code. Islamic religious law is the law of the land, and blasphemy and apostasy are specifically prohibited and systematically prosecuted. The country is a theocratic monarchy, and under siyasa policy, any act taken by the king must conform to Islamic principles. Islamic scholars, ulema, are directly consulted in the development of legislation.