p2pnet - rss feed: Saudis free Fouad al-Farhan
p2pnet news | Freedom:- “I woke up around 5:30 this morning on the beeping of my iPhone which received a short message from the wife of my friend and fellow blogger Fouad al-Farhan telling me that Fouad has been released and that he is back home with his family now,” posts Saudi Jeans, going on:
“That’s great news and this is just how I wanted to start my morning!”
Saudi blogger and ex-Ball State University student Fouad al-Farhan, who had the courage to use his own name online, is indeed free.
Arrested in January for ‘interrogation’ by the Saudi Interior Ministry, he was released Saturday after serving four months in prison without charge, says the Washington Post.
“Fouad al-Farhan, 33, was detained Dec. 10 after authorities warned him about his online support of an activist group. At the time of his arrest, the Interior Ministry said only that his violations were not related to state security,” says the story, going on:
“Farhan had used his blog to criticize corruption and call for political reform in Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy.”
New York-based Human Rights Watch last month condemned the Saudi justice system saying those who protest detentions without trial or charge and other critics are often put behind bars, it states, adding:
“The report cited the cases of Farhan, academic Abdullah al-Hamid and Judge Sulaiman al-Rushoodi.
Hamid, a prominent democracy activist, began a six-month jail sentence in March for encouraging a peaceful demonstration. He had previously spent a year and a half in prison for calling for a constitutional monarchy before being pardoned by King Abdullah in 2005.
Farhan, who was educated in the United States and owns a computer programming company, had said before his arrest that an Interior Ministry official warned him that he would be detained for his online support of a group of men, including Rushoodi, arrested in February 2007.
The government accused the group, made up of activists, academics and businessmen, of supporting terrorism. An attorney for the men has said they were arrested for their political activism and their intention to form a civil rights group.
Rushoodi was planning to sue the Interior Ministry for holding prisoners without charge.
Stay tuned.
(Thanks, Luvie)
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Saudi Jeans - Fouad Released, April 26, 2008
Saudi blogger - Saudi blogger Fouad al-Farhan jailed, January 2, 2008
Washington Post - Illegal iPhones, Apple of Russian Elites’ Eyes, April 26, 2008
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April 28th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
It’s always a scary thing when people are “detained” for more than 24 hours.
I see the need for a provision to detain suspects in emergency situations, but if you can’t come up with a tangible case within 24 hours, it becomes a gross violation of civil liberty.
The methods that Saudi officials used on Fouad al-Farhan seem to have proved his case, beyond a shadow of a doubt.
April 28th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Good news, but how long will it be before they arrest him for something else they don’t like?
April 29th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Yep….George Bush’s good buddies the Saudi’s…..They both need to go the way of the dinosaur!!