Today I read on BBC that a Saudi blogger, named Fouad al-Farhan, was arrested in Jeddah on 10 December 2007, without any charges against him.
Based on BBC website, Fouad was prepared to criticize aspects of life in Saudi Arabia he did not like and – unusually – wrote his Arabic blog.
This story made me happy and sad. In fact, it changed my opinion about Saudi Arabia. Before I know this country as a wide prison, as bin laden’s country and even a nice country for extremists, but now I believe that freedom has budded in this land, like any other place in Middle East.
I’m sad because Fouad has to endure three months in prison for his beliefs and his family is worrying about him.
Unfortunately what happened about Fouad is common in Middle East. We can see a lot about dictatorship in my country, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and any other lands, as this region has a good background about tolerance and freedom, based on what has written by Bernard Lewis in his book named “The Middle East: 2000 Years of History from the Rise of Christianity to the Present Day”.
Here you can fill out a form and join with free-speech advocates around the world and send a letter to Saudi and American officials.
Tags: Bernard Lewis, Bloggers, Media, Middle East, Political Islam, Saudi Arabia
