Saudi authorities release novelist and political writer Turki al-Hamad

Hamad, a novelist and a political commentator, "returned home this morning," lawyer Walid Abulkhair said.
 
He said the writer "has not been put on trial, and has not faced any charges."
 
Hamad was arrested on the orders of Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdel Aziz, who was tipped off by a religious organization, for alleged insults to Islam he made on Twitter, his family said on December 24.
 
The comments he posted had attacked radical Islamists he said were twisting the Prophet Mohammed's "message of love," and what he described as "a neo-Nazism which is on the rise in the Arab world -- Islamic extremism".
 
The postings provoked fierce debate on social networking sites in Saudi Arabia between his supporters and detractors.
 
In January, some 500 people, including Saudi intellectuals, signed a petition urging Saudi Crown Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz, to order the release of Hamad.