Top Saudi Blogger Arrested

January 2, 2008 – Fouad al-Farhan, Saudi Arabia’s most popular blogger has now been confirmed by an Interior Ministry spokesman on Monday. This comes as the first known arrest of an online critic in the kingdom. The arrest “created widespread anxiety among other Saudi bloggers and advocates”, Ahmad al-Omran, a blogger and friend of him stated.

While he may not remain in detention long, he is being detained for questioning, mainly for posting information about corruption and calling for political reform in his country. Saudia Arabia is an absolute monarchy that restricts press and speech freedoms, and does not allow political parties, civil rights groups or public gatherings.

“An incident like this has its effect,” Mr. Omran said by telephone. “It’s intimidating to think you might be arrested for something on your blog. On the other hand, this means that these voices on the blogosphere are being heard. But it’s really sad that a blogger who is writing about important issues out in the open would get arrested, while there are extremists who call for violence and hate, and the government is not doing much.”

In the United States, Farhan owns a computer programming company and also educated in the US.

His blog has a banner reading ‘Free Fouad’ with further information about his arrest. Nevertheless, Farhan’s arrest comes as a critical event in the blogosphere and the media – bloggers in Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Bahrain have condemned his arrest and more than 200 other bloggers in the kingdom have also criticized his detention.

[via New York Times and Tech Crunch]