Campaign for release of Saudi blogger
Unusually, he blogs under his real name.
Freedom and Islam
At the top of his Arabic blog is the slogan: “Searching for freedom, dignity, justice, equality, public participation and the other lost Islamic values.”
As those words suggest, Farhan is no secularist. For him, there is no contradiction between freedom and Islam.
His blog (
Reformists
But it looks as if his detention results from his open support for a group of reformists who were arrested last year and are being held without charge or trial.
The authorities have linked them to terrorism, but their supporters are convinced they are being punished for their political activity.
| Young Saudis chafe at the many restrictions they face… They use their blogs to attack the religious police – or just gossip about fashion, travel and relationships |
In the past bloggers have sometimes been warned off and occasionally shut down.
One outspoken woman, who blogged under the name Saudi Eve, found her site blocked after she wrote freely about sex and religion.
New battleground
Cyberspace has become the new battleground in which liberals and conservatives confront one another.
Young Saudis chafe at the many restrictions they face in a country under the sway of an austere form of Islam.
They use their blogs to attack the religious police – or just gossip about fashion, travel and relationships.
Religious conservatives see themselves as the defenders of moral purity – but also pursue a variety of political agendas.
When one blogger encounters official disapproval, others rush to his (or her) defence.
This has been the case after Fouad al-Farhan was arrested on 10 December.
The news first appeared on the internet. It took the authorities more than two weeks to acknowledge he was being held.
An energetic campaign is under way online, in English and Arabic, to press for his release.
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