Zahack was arrested in December 2023.
Riyadh: Indian activist Zahack Tanvir, who was imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for a year, has been released. Zahack was arrested in Saudi Arabia in December 2023 on charges of posting anti-Pakistan content. He has been released after more than a year.
After coming out, Tanvir confirmed his release on social media. He expressed disappointment at being kept in jail for so long but also thanked India. Zahack Tanvir thanked the Indian embassy for ensuring his release. He gave special thanks to India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Indian diplomat Suhail Ejaz Khan.
Zahack stated that Indian officials often visited him in prison and helped him in every way. The 39-year-old told The Print that he was arrested by Saudi police in December 2023 following a complaint from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
He was accused of attempting to undermine Pakistan’s political system. Saudi authorities considered Zahack’s post to be damaging to diplomatic relations between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Tanvir claims he was unaware that speaking against Pakistan was prohibited in Saudi Arabia.
The behavior of the Saudi authorities was not good. Tanvir reported that the police kept him seated for a long time after taking him into custody. He was not informed about the charges against him for several hours. After a long interrogation, the officials claimed that he wanted to create tension between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
Tanveer stated that the purpose of his post was not to create any diplomatic rift. He mentioned that he only wrote about promoting extremism in Pakistan and the imprisonment of Afghan children in Pakistani jails.
Zahack was granted legal exit from Saudi Arabia after his release on December 6, 2024. His company had promised to reinstate him, but Tanvir decided not to return to work in Saudi Arabia. He is now living in the United States. Zahack Tanvir is from the Indian city of Hyderabad. He had been living in Saudi Arabia for 13 years before his arrest.
