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Hamza Kashgari, the young Saudi blogger whose foolhardy tweets about Prophet Muhammad left conservative clerics baying for his blood, is a poet and a dreamer, says a former colleague.

“Hamza always liked being alone, he wasn’t a social person,” said a senior editor at Al Bilad, the newspaper Mr. Kashgari used to work for.

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“He had a broken look in his eyes and I think that was a sign of sadness or depression. He’s a poet and had a lot of philosophical ideas.”

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He said the young writer had learned the Koran by heart and always had good manners, and none of his columns had touched on controversial religious ideas.

Now, the 23-year-old is Saudi Arabia’s most reviled man and could even face execution for blasphemy.

It’s all because of three tweets of an imagined conversation with the Prophet Muhammad.

Writing on the Prophet’s birthday, he said he “loved the rebel in you” and he “loved some aspects of you, hated others.”