January 2, 2008
Filed under: Free Fouad — Free Fouad @ 10:42 am
Ebtihal Mubarak, Arab News
EDDAH, 1 January 2008 — The Interior Ministry confirmed yesterday that Saudi blogger Fouad Al-Farhan was being held for “interrogation”.
Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, the spokesperson for the ministry, said Al-Farhan was being held for “interrogation for violating non-security regulations.”
Further details on the reasons for the detention weren’t disclosed and the ministry spokesperson would not say if the interrogation had anything to do with Farhan’s web journal.
The 32-year-old Jeddah resident was arrested from his office on Dec. 10 and taken to his home for a search by police. Family members say they still haven’t been informed of any charges or suspicions leveled against Farhan. “They told us we can see him 30 days from the date of his detention,” a family member told Arab News on condition of anonymity.
The family has been in contact with the governmental Human Rights Commission (HRC) asking for help in the case. The family would also like to be able to visit Farhan, who is married and has two young children.
“What gave them the right to deny him celebrating Eid with his children and detain him for more than 20 days now?” said the letter from the family sent to HRC President Turki Al-Sudairi recently.
Farhan’s blog leads with the slogan: “Searching for freedom, dignity, justice, equality, public participation (shoura), and all the rest of lost Islamic values, and for Raghad and Khetab (Farhan’s two children).”
The bulk of Farhan’s writings discuss Saudi society and other cultural observations from a perspective of promoting more public participation.
A close friend to Farhan, who also runs a web journal, said that Farhan’s writings were “not at all provocative and very much rational”.
“He’s one of the few writing under his real name,” he added. “His friends referred to him as ‘the dean of Saudi bloggers’.”
The letter to the HRC stressed that Farhan wrote on his blog openly, without disguising his identity, and that he has “no tendency to terrorism. All of his ideas float on the surface.”
The HRC in Riyadh confirmed to Arab News that the letter had been received and the case was being reviewed.
Two weeks before his Dec. 10 detention Farhan sent a letter to his friends predicting his arrest. The letter, which is posted in Arabic and English on his blog (http://www.alfarhan.org), said that Farhan was told there was an official order from an Interior Ministry official to investigate him.
Farhan said that he believed that the reason for his impending arrest was linked to his writings regarding Saudi academics who were arrested last year.
“They think I’m running an online campaign promoting their issue,” he wrote. “All I did is write some pieces and place side banners (on my website) and asked other bloggers to do the same.”
Farhan wrote that he had been previously asked to write and sign a letter of apology.
“An apology for what?” he wrote.
Saudi Blogger Ahmad Al-Omran, 23, who runs the Saudi Jeans blog out of Eastern Province, said that Farhan’s arrest might be intimidating to some bloggers.
“They will think it’s dangerous now,” he said, adding that he also thinks that might be positive in a sense that they know for sure now that their voices are being heard.
While in his cell away from his wife and two children the blogger who also runs a small IT business manages to keep his web journal updated. His blog is now run by his friends with a banner that says “Free Fouad”. They also made a website with the same motto http://freefouad.com displayed in English and Arabic running an online petition to be presented to officials asking them to free Al-Farhan immediately.
“I don’t want to be forgotten in jail,” said Farhan in his last letter.
Source: Arab News
January 1, 2008
Filed under: Free Fouad — Free Fouad @ 6:26 am
Popular Internet Commentator Had Called for Political Reform
By Faiza Saleh Ambah
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, January 1, 2008; A07
JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Dec. 31 — Saudi Arabia’s most popular blogger, Fouad al-Farhan, has been detained for questioning, an Interior Ministry spokesman confirmed Monday. It was the first known arrest of an online critic in the kingdom.
Farhan, 32, who used his blog to criticize corruption and call for political reform, was detained “for violating rules not related to state security,” according to the spokesman, Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, responding to repeated requests for comment with a brief cellphone text message.
Farhan’s Dec. 10 arrest was reported last week on the Internet and has been condemned by bloggers in Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Bahrain. The Saudi news media have not yet reported the arrest, but more than 200 bloggers in the kingdom have criticized Farhan’s detention, and a group of supporters have set up a Free Fouad Web site.
Farhan, who was educated in the United States and owns a computer programming company, was arrested at his office in Jiddah and then brought home, where his laptop was confiscated, said his wife, who spoke on condition that her name not be published to protect her privacy. “They arrested him because of his blog. I haven’t seen him since. We don’t know where he is,” she said.
Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy that restricts press and speech freedoms, does not allow political parties, civil rights groups or public gatherings. But since King Abdullah took the throne in 2005, official tolerance of criticism and debate has grown.
Even so, Farhan told The Washington Post and others in early December that an Interior Ministry official had warned him that he would be detained because of his online support for a group of men arrested in February and held without charge or trial.
At the time of their arrest, the government accused the Jiddah-based group, made up of a former judge, academics and businessmen, of supporting terrorism. The men’s attorney, Bassim Alim, had said they were arrested for their political activism and their plans to form a civil rights group.
Farhan’s friends have maintained his blog during his detention and posted on it an e-mail he had written to a friend shortly before his arrest.
Farhan wrote that he was told he would be released if he signed an apology for his activism. “I’m not sure if I’m ready to do that. An apology for what? Apologizing because I said the government lied when they accused those guys of supporting terrorism?”
In October, Farhan visited one of the jailed men and wrote about it on his blog, http://www. alfarhan.org.
He also posted an emotional taped appeal from the mother of one of the men, academic Saud Mokhtar al-Hashemi, and asked readers to call the men’s families and offer their support.
Unlike most of the thousands of men and women who blog in the kingdom, on topics from fashion to corruption, Farhan uses his real name. In a post in December, Farhan listed his 10 least favorite Saudi personalities, including a businessman prince, a prominent cleric, a minister, a mayor and the head of the judiciary.
Farhan’s arrest could either scare other bloggers from criticizing the government or create a backlash, said Ahmed al-Omran, 23, who blogs as Saudi Jeans.
“I think some people will be afraid now, especially those who use their real names — they will be more careful. A lot of bloggers will be intimidated. But it could also cause a backlash in the blogosphere, and spur bloggers to write even harsher criticisms,” Omran said.
Farhan has had trouble with the authorities before. In 2006 he was told by the Interior Ministry to tone down his blog and to dissolve an association he was forming to protect bloggers’ rights.
He dissolved the group and quit blogging for nine months because of his business interests, he said subsequently. But he went back to blogging even more critically in July.
Farhan’s is the first arrest of a blogger in Saudi Arabia. Two Egyptian bloggers and one Tunisian are currently behind bars, according to Sami ben Gharbia, advocacy director for Global Voices, an international research group focused on the Internet and founded at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society.
Source: Washington Post
December 30, 2007
Filed under: Free Fouad — Free Fouad @ 4:43 am
Blogger behind bars
The Saudi authorities are holding blogger Fouad Farhan in detention - but without giving any reason for his arrest
December 29, 2007 3:00 PM | Printable version
Fouad Farhan
![freefouad.jpg]()
As 2007 nears its end, it is not without scary signs that negatively affect the right to free speech in Saudi Arabia. The year is ending almost exactly as it started. It began with the arrest of 10 activists (one of whom, lawyer Issam Basrawi, was later released) and their detention in the prison of the intelligence services in Jeddah - under the claim that they were funding terror.
A few weeks before the end of the year, Saudi blogger Fouad Farhan was also held in a mysterious way. Information about the circumstances of his arrest has been very limited, despite my personal attempt to find out from security sources why he was arrested.
Despite my regular attempts with his wife to talk to me, I have withheld talking about this important public issue. But a statement by his wife to Global Voices Website has now removed much of the mystery:
Fouad’s arrest was directly linked to his blogging activities. He may remain in custody for a one-month investigation period. After that his family will be allowed to visit him and be informed about his case and the possible charges that might be brought against him. Fouad is apparently being held, without charge or trial, at the ministry of interior’s security service (al-Mabahith al-’Amma) headquarter in Jeddah. He has been arrested at his office in Jeddah and had been led to his home where police confiscated his laptop computer.
This is a strange case because the security forces are clearly violating the customary law. The second clause of the penal code states clearly that it is not permissible to search a person or hold him except for clearly stated violations, and that he must be held in locations specified for such detention and for a set period of time and authorised by an appropriate legal authority. The same code also specifies that it is not permitted to hurt the detained person physically or morally and it is forbidden to torture the detained or to treat him in a way that impinges on his pride.
The fourth article of the same law states that every person has the right to use a lawyer to defend him in the investigation period and in the court sessions.
The law states clearly that the maximum period of holding a person without access to a lawyer and court approval is 24 hours. Until now, weeks have passed and Fouad Farhan is still being held without it being clear if he has had the opportunity for legal representation. Judging from some earlier cases, we have a strong belief that the detainee’s legal rights have not been honoured.
This year might have ended peacefully (in comparison to the status of Tunisian and Egyptian bloggers) had it not been for this case that has shaken us. It shows that members of the security apparatus don’t have the ability to tolerate the opinions of a Saudi blogger that are written on his personal website. Saudi bloggers have shown that their blogs are serious and mature and reflect what is happening in society, politics and media.
The wife of Fouad Farhan has said that her husband will be held for an entire month and then the authorities will decide what to charge him with. Only then will she be allowed to visit him!
This means that he is currently held without a charge. How was he held without a clear charge being levied against him? Or are we supposed to think that he is charged simply with “blogging”?
Farhan didn’t hide his fear about this arrest. Days before he was held he sent a message to fellow bloggers. He explained that he had received a phone call from the Saudi interior ministry instructing him to prepare himself “to be picked up in the coming two weeks” for an investigation by a high-ranking official.
“The issue that caused all of this is because I wrote about the political prisoners here in Saudi Arabia and they think I’m running an online campaign promoting their issue,” al-Farhan wrote in the email, which is currently posted on his blog. He wrote that the agent promised to detain him for only a short period if he agreed to sign a letter of apology. “I am not sure if I am ready to do that. Apology for what?” he asked in the email, adding that he does not want “to be forgotten in jail”.
There is no justification for the security authorities to hold Fouad Farhan. Not a word in his blog reflects radical or hostile thoughts. He is a human being who has refused to be part of the silent majority that looks at problems in their society without comment. If Farhan has posted icons on his website calling for a fair trail to fellow Saudis, so what? Is this a crime? A website has been established demanding his release, and well as a group on Facebook.
Why don’t the security authorities give us a valid justification? Such an arrest is a dangerous indicator about the low level of personal freedoms and freedom of expression this year.
source: http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/iman_alqahtani/2007/12/blogger_behind_bars.html
Filed under: Free Fouad — Free Fouad @ 2:15 am
Published by
Antony Loewenstein 26 December 2007
in General.
During my recent trip to Saudi Arabia - to research information for my upcoming book on the internet in repressive regimes - I spent time with blogger and activist Fouad Al Farhan, a generous, critical and warm man. He’s now allegedly been arrested for daring to challenge the Washington-backed dictatorship:
Saudi blogger, Fouad Al-Farhan was arrested on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 following a raid on his office by Saudi authorities who did not give any reason for his arrest.
Fuad is considered one of the first Saudi bloggers to use their real name when posting. He dedicated his blog to a frank discussion of the various social and national issues, in a true embodiment of the slogan of his blog: “in search of freedom, dignity, justice, equality, consultation, and the rest of lost Islamic values… for Raghad and Khattab.”
The authorities are believed to be dismayed with Fouad for his support of the “Ten,” the ten Saudi academics who were arrested earlier this year for their alleged involvement in funding terrorism, albeit the charges have yet to verified.
Fouad has been previously harassed by unknown official parties and was forced to shut down his blog between February and June 2007.
http://antonyloewenstein.com/blog/2007/12/26/trampling-on-saudi-rights/
December 28, 2007
Filed under: Free Fouad — Free Fouad @ 3:56 pm
(RSF/IFEX) - RSF condemns the detention of blogger Ahmad Fouad Al-Farhan ( http://www.alfarhan.org ) since 10 December 2007. His family does not know where he is being held or what he is charged with. He said on his blog a few days before his arrest that he was expecting a summons from the interior ministry.
“The reforms and the opening announced by King Abdallah Ibn Al-Saud have yet to have any impact on the lives of Saudis, including those who openly express their disagreement with government policies,” RSF said. “After blocking the news website Elaph and the leading blog publishing service http://www.blogger.com, the authorities have now directly targeted a blogger for the first time. We call on the police to immediately reveal where and why Al-Farhan is being held.”
Aged 32 and a resident of Jeddah, Al-Farhan was arrested at his workplace by police who first took him home to collect his laptop computer and then took him to an unknown location, the Arab Network for Human Rights Information said. His family still does not know where he is.
A note that he wrote a few days before his arrest has been posted on his website by a support committee. “I was told that there is an official order from a high-ranking official in the ministry of the interior to investigate me,” he wrote. “They will pick me up any time in the next two weeks (. . .) This is because I wrote about the political prisoners here in Saudi Arabia and they think I’m running an online campaign promoting their issue. All I did is write some pieces, put up banners and ask other bloggers to do the same.”
The Saudi government’s official Internet blacklist affects more than 400,000 websites, ranging from the sites of political organisations to those of unrecognised Islamist movements and porn sites.
Saudi Arabia is on the RSF list of “13 Internet enemies” and was ranked 148th out of 169 countries in the RSF world press freedom index that was published in October.
Source: International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX)
Filed under: Free Fouad — Free Fouad @ 3:50 pm
![Free Foaud Blogger]()
Global Voices Advocacy newsletter: The leading Saudi blogger, Fouad Alfarhan, who has been arrested in Jeddah on December 10, 2007 for exercising his freedom of speech on his popular blog alfarhan.org has sent a letter few days before his arrest to his friends:
I was told that there is an official order from a high-ranking official in the Ministry of the Interior to investigate me. They will pick me up anytime in the next 2 weeks.
The issue that caused all of this is because I wrote about the political prisoners here in Saudi Arabia and they think I’m running a online campaign promoting their issue. All what I did is wrote some pieces and put side banners and asked other bloggers to do the same.
he asked me to comply with him and sign an apology. I’m not sure if I’m ready to do that. An apology for what? Apologizing because I said the government is liar when they accused those guys to be supporting terrorism?
To expect the worst which is to be jailed for 3 days till we write good feedback about you and let u go
there may be no jial and only apologizing letter. But, if it’s more than three days, it should be out. I don’t want to be forgotten in jail.
According to his wife, Fouad’s arrest was directly linked to his blogging activities. He may remain in custody for a one-month investigation period. After that his family will be allowed to visit him and be informed about his case and the possible charges that might be brought against him. Fouad is apparently being held, without charge or trial, at the Ministry of Interior’s security service (al-Mabahith al-’Amma) headquarter in Jeddah. He has been arrested at his office in Jeddah and had been led to his home where police confiscated his laptop computer.
Read more on FreeFouad.com, Or join the Facebook group to show your support.
Source: Don’t Block the Blog
Filed under: Free Fouad — Free Fouad @ 3:41 pm
New York, December 26, 2007-The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the ongoing detention of a leading pro-reform Saudi blogger who has been held without charge since early this month.
On December 10, Fouad Ahmed al-Farhan, a 32-year-old blogger who runs the site Alfarhan, was detained by Saudi security agents at the Jeddah office of the IT company he owns, CPJ sources and Saudi blogs have reported. Security agents later visited al-Farhan’s home and confiscated his laptop, those same sources said.
Al-Farhan’s whereabouts are unknown and it is unclear why he has been detained. Attempts by CPJ to obtain comment from the Saudi Embassy in Washington were unsuccessful.
“It is deplorable that al-Farhan has been held secretly without charge for more than two weeks. We call on Saudi authorities to release him at once,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “Detaining writers and holding them for weeks without charge is appalling.”
In an e-mail sent to friends prior to his arrest, al-Farhan explained that he had received a phone call from the Saudi interior ministry instructing him to prepare himself “to be picked up in the coming two weeks” for an investigation by a high-ranking official.
“The issue that caused all of this is because I wrote about the political prisoners here in Saudi Arabia and they think I’m running an online campaign promoting their issue,” al-Farhan wrote in the e-mail, which is currently posted on his blog. He wrote that the agent promised to detain him for only a short period if he agreed to sign a letter of apology. “I am not sure if I am ready to do that. Apology for what?” he asked in the e-mail, adding that he does not want “to be forgotten in jail.”
Al-Farhan is one of the few Saudi bloggers who does not use a penname while commenting on political and social life in the country. In one of his last posts before his detention, al-Farhan sharply criticized 10 influential business, religious, and media figures close to the Saudi royal family. His public support of a group of 10 Saudi academics arrested earlier this year allegedly for “financing terrorism” has apparently angered Saudi authorities, he reported on his blog.
“It’s really sad to see a blogger arrested and silenced for exercising his freedom of speech to condemn terrorism and promote political reform in his country,”Sami Ben Gharbia, a blogger close to al-Farhan and director of Global Voices told CPJ.
The media in Saudi Arabia is heavily restricted by the government. Since September 11, 2001, the government has somewhat loosened the shackles on the domestic press. Local journalists have seized the initiative to produce more daring reports on crime, drug trafficking, unemployment, and religious extremism, but journalists remain heavily circumscribed in what they can write and are subject to swift reprisal from the authorities.
The government frequently reins in criticism by banning newspapers, blacklisting writers, and pressuring journalists behind the scenes. Last year online writer Rabah al-Quwai’ was held for 13 days in retaliation for his writings about religious extremism. For information on press freedom in Saudi Arabia read CPJ’s 2006 special report, Princes, Clerics, and Censors.
Source: CPJ
December 26, 2007
Filed under: Free Fouad — Free Fouad @ 12:33 pm
![FreeFouad]()
The leading Saudi blogger, Fouad Alfarhan, who has been arrested in Jeddah on December 10, 2007 for exercising his freedom of speech on his popular blog alfarhan.org has sent a letter few days before his arrest to his friends:
I was told that there is an official order from a high-ranking official in the Ministry of the Interior to investigate me. They will pick me up anytime in the next 2 weeks.
The issue that caused all of this is because I wrote about the political prisoners here in Saudi Arabia and they think I’m running a online campaign promoting their issue. All what I did is wrote some pieces and put side banners and asked other bloggers to do the same.
he asked me to comply with him and sign an apology. I’m not sure if I’m ready to do that. An apology for what? Apologizing because I said the government is liar when they accused those guys to be supporting terrorism?
To expect the worst which is to be jailed for 3 days till we write good feedback about you and let u go
there may be no jial and only apologizing letter. But, if it’s more than three days, it should be out. I don’t want to be forgotten in jail.
According to his wife with whom we talked, Fouad’s arrest was directly linked to his blogging activities. He may remain in custody for a one-month investigation period. After that his family will be allowed to visit him and be informed about his case and the possible charges that might be brought against him. Fouad is apparently being held, without charge or trial, at the Ministry of Interior’s security service (al-Mabahith al-’Amma) headquarter in Jeddah. He has been arrested at his office in Jeddah and had been led to his home where police confiscated his laptop computer.
This is not the first time that Fouad has run into trouble with Saudi authorities. Last year, Fouad was questioned by plainclothes police and was forced to shut down his blog. After a hiatus of few months, Fouad decided to continue blogging.
Several bloggers and activists are organizing an online Free Fouad campaign at freefouad.com to call attention to Fouad. As so far, a support group created on Facebook for Fouad has gathered 295 members.
In a statement issued on December 24, 2007, The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information condemned the “unjustified detention” of blogger Fouad Alfarhan and urged the Saudi authorities to reveal the reason of arresting him. “When the Saudi authorities arrest a young man writing maturely and is against terrorism and calls for reformation, it is a serious indicator for how far are the fanatic and those opposing freedom of expression and reformation are taking over in Saudi Arabia,” the executive director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, Mr. Gamal said.
source: Global Voices
December 25, 2007
Filed under: Free Fouad — Free Fouad @ 3:53 am
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information stated today that the Saudi authority should reveal the reasons behind taking the famous Saudi blogger Fouad El Farhan in detention, and the reasons behind kidnapping him from his job premise two weeks ago, namely on December 10, 2007, which is the world human rights day.
The Saudi security services came through the office of Fouad El Farhan in “Smart Info Co.” in Jeddah and took him to an unknown place without stating the reasons behind taking him . Fouad El Farhan was not set free till now, however it is usual for the Saudi security to set the bloggers free after few days of detention. The Saudi bloggers are playing a crucial role in supporting the peaceful reformation in Saudi Arabia.
Al Farhan is one of the most significant Saudi and Arabian bloogers, he is known as the dean of Saudi bloggers. His writings found in his blog www.alfarhan.org are serious ones and supporting reformation. The slogan of his blog says “Searching for freedom, dignity, justice, equality, Shura and all the remaining Islamic values which are missing.. for Raghad and Khitab ( the names of his daughters).
It is noteworthy that Saudi authorities are harassing Saudi bloggers from time to time and are arresting most of them like the Saudi blogger “Sargon Matar”. Moreover many Saudi blogs were banned like Saudi “Hawa” blog.
Many Saudi activists thought that the Saudi security services would free Al Farhan on Al Adha feast but it did not happen. Two weeks without freeing Al Farhan or revealing the reasons or the place of detention is rising fears and worries about Al Farhan upon whom pressures might be exercised for his frank and obvious support for the Saudi reformers. Al Farhan is know of his call for supporting reformation as a means of confronting terrorism.
Gamal Eid, the executive director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, said, “Many question marks are put around the real Saudi stance about terrorism”. “When the Saudi authorities arrest a young man writing maturely and is against terrorism and calls for reformation, it is a serious indicator for how far are the fanatic and those opposing freedom of expression and reformation are taking over in Saudi Arabia”, Mr. Gamal added.
Ahmad Fouad Al Farhan, 32 years old a father of two daughters “ Raghad and Khitab” works as a manager at “Smart Info Co.,” in Jeddah. He has an M.A degree in IT from the United States. His outstanding writings in his blog bearing his name gave him a fame and respect among Saudi and Arab bloggers.
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information condemns arresting Al Farhan and the unjustified detention in an unknown place. In the same time the Network stresses that nothing at all can justify arresting Al Farhan or any other citizen without a legal evidence and reasons of such detention. The declared stances of Saudi authorities should get aligned with its actual practices.
source : Arabic Network of Human Rights information
Next Page » 
