Fouad Al Farhan, a leading Saudi blogger, has been arrested in Jeddah about two weeks ago. The reasons behind the detention of Al Farhan remain unclear, but it is known that he had to shut down his blog previously after being harassed by some authorities. He remained on hiatus for a few months, but he decided later to come back and continue blogging because he believes that freedom, justice and equality are values worth fighting for. I have met Fouad a couple of times and I have interviewed him for Global Voices.
Fellow bloggers and friends are launching a campaign to release Fouad. More details about the campaign and what you can do to support him can be found here.
I hope that Fouad would be released soon to come back to his family and friends. This country needs more people like him, people who love their country and want to see it thrive and advance.
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Thanks Ahmed for your post. There are very few English blogs covering the story. This will help bring international attention to freedom of speech issues in Saudi. I hope some of the traditional media start covering this story.
OMG!! he was in for more than 10days.. n no one was told?? Wht would his family have gone thru on Eid? He has guts and now he is standing up for wht he believes in. Maybe this will b damaging for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia like the Qatif Girl story was.. :S just wht we needed
lets hope tht its covered in the traditional media with in Saudi Arabia
Hang in there man
To : Saudi in US and Mr. Ahmed this is you job to tell the story for the Others i believe in the free word so Try to do it for us , Future and for Home ……..
I’ve read everything on the site. What can we do? Is there a list to sign?
Sounds almost like China… Only in this case, at least, people learn that people are being jailed. Scary… Freedom of expression curtailed. Or was there “freedom of expression” in the first place? None perhaps…
I still don’t know why you people allow this to happen. Stand up for yourselves! Tell everyone you know how absurd this is. Insist on your inalienable right to say whatever you want without interference from the government. The only way the thugs get away with this is because you let them. If you want to be accepted into the circle of civilized nations in the 21st century, show that you have the grit to say no to the tyrants.
In such a controlled enviroment it can not be so easy to ”Stand up for ypurselves” Look what happens if you write a blog under your own name.
It’s been more than two weeks now. Its very worrying.
I sincerely hope Fouad will be let free soon.
I never thought I would feel anything like sympathy for a Saudi male, but I saw this on CNN this morning and I’m putting a short post on sometimes – 2