Many of you will have heard the story of Saudi blogger Fouad El Farhan who was arrested and taken into custody without knowing exactly what he was being charged with. It may sound bizarre but Fouad has a blog on which he continuously calls for governmental reform and comments of event such as the imprisonment of nine fellow governmental reformists. The sad news is that according to his mother Fouad has been placed in solitary confinement and is questioned daily.

Although his family’s contact with him is extremely limited and brief when allowed they say that he has assured them that he is not being harassed. Obviously this goes against all the principles of freedom of the press but the government does not necessarily care. This arrest has obviously gone down in history as it is the first arrest of an online critic and it has caused uproar. Several organizations have adopted this journalist’s cause and have protested to charge him or free him!

By Karim

On the Web:
U.S. concerned for Saudi blogger