Fouad Ahmad Alfarhan was born in 1975 A.D in Taif, Saudi Arabia. Married and has two kids : Raghd (a 10 years old girl) and Khattab (a 5 years old boy). He is the general manager of Smart Info Inc. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He had a bachelor in Management- Marketing from Eastern Washington University, Spokane, U.S.A. He studied Master in Computer Science in Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, U.S.A.
He is one of the first Saudi Bloggers who wrote under their real name. He was known for his writings that demands reforms in Saudi Arabia, freedom of speech, and justice. He was forced to stop blogging in the beginning of 2007 after some harassments from officials, before he resumed to write in July 2007.
He was arrested on Tuesday, 11th of December in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia without any clear charges, and for that this blog was created demanding for his release.
For more information about Fouad:
Many blessings to this man and his family. I hope he will be released soon!
Fouad shows the world as much strength of character all on his own, as the authorities show the world their pathetic weakness. Amazing how one brave man is able to expose so many cowards.
A courageous man. I am sure he will be released.
Please do all Firefox users a favor. On the page http://www.alfarhan.org/ change the second line as follows:
Adding lang=”ar” helps Firefox display the Arabic correctly. Thank you.
aslam o alakum, i thinks in arab countries as a whole and saudia arabia in particular, these countries needs people like fouad. the problem however is, that higher authoroties have no idea what they are dealing with, and every thing seems to be like an uprising against these tyrant rulers. inshalla, ALLAH would help him. keep it up, you will win one day. from ireland
As a former expatriate who deeply loves the Middle East, it makes me so very sad that this man has been jailed without charges. Just when Saudi Arabia had a chance to open its doors to free speech, it slams them shut again. How can the country grow without its people being heard? Saudi Arabia is not ready to be a leader, only a buyer of peace, until it allows its people to practice free speech.
Hi dear
I really do not know about Mr Fahim
However,if someone talks about freedom( it is very hard in your country as a Mother of Islam)should not be arrested
only Dictators are afraid of free voices
some People in suadi arabia openly talk about”Jihad” and killing another SECT OF ISLAM very openly but they are not charge for incournaging TERROTEST.however,a Young well educated person been jaild for talking about freedom of speech???????
hope suadi arabia Government has some wise Politacion to realize that puting Mr Foud under arest is not a wise idea
wish you all success
paravaz from canada
a persian
This should be posted everywhere it can. While th U.S is bombing and invading Iraq and Afghanistan, the ‘enemies’ of democracy, or to a more specific point basic freedoms, are under attack by our supposed allies. While men like Fouad are imprisoned for speaking their minds and critizing their governments, we in the U.S and West allow this travesty to contiune. Freedom of speech is something we should be extolling to the world, not bombs. We don’t need to use force, just our pocket books. There’s a lot more that could be said, but I really just wanted to send some sort of message to show faith and support for Fouad. I hope he is safe and not treated with harm.
~ People shouldn’t have to fear their government, governments should have to fear the people.
While I do not agree with the commentary regarding freeing suspected terrorists, I am a strong believer in the rights of free speech. Your story has made its way into the Washington, DC media market (where I live) and I’m certain will spread like wildfire. I am disappointed to hear that the Saudi government would arrest someone for a disagreement over speech; it is precisely what leads to terrorism to begin with (at least in my humble opinion).
The Saudi government is no doubt reading this and I’ll tell them right now that my ip will show Comcast and about a mile or two from I-95 (couple more miles to 495/Beltway). I’ve grown up here and have many friends in government as I’ve always made politics a hobby. This is the sort of thing that will pop up in discussions over drinks or at a social event and it will color the way our legislators view the Saudi government.
I surely hope they release this gentleman and that he was not harmed in any way for their ‘questioning.’
Winston, that is a naive view of world affairs. There was no freedom of speech in Afghanistan or Iraq and if you want to claim there was than you’re doing it solely for your own political purposes. You’ll have to try looking at more than one perspective and it won’t require agreeing with the wars, but it will be enlightening. Not everything is always as it seems, but those most emotionally attached to an argument tend to only find those ‘facts’ that they agree with. I recognize your point with economics and believe in many cases you’re right, but a quick look at history would say that despotically-led regimes like North Korea, Iran, Iraq, etc don’t respond to those economic matters. Then it becomes a decision about when, where, and how you use force–and that’s an endless debate.
As an American Jewish blogger, I express my solidarity with Fouad in his struggle for free speech on the internet. The Saudi authorities will hopefully realize that the blog world is stronger than their narrow definition of what is good for Saudi Arabia.
If there is anything I can do to help let me know. You might want to consider creating various grahpic images we can insert in our sidebars on his behalf.
[...] About page reveals that he earned his college degrees here in the U.S., among them an undergrad degree [...]
We’re all hoping for his release. Is there a small logo/banner available that we can place on our blogs?
Dear Mr. al-Fahan
I hope you dare continue your blog when you get – or we get – you out of jail. I’m a Dane, and as you may know, we are opposed to deprive the people their right to have a different public opinion from the rulers.
I’m confident that for example the BBC will follow your destiny.
Dear Mr. al-Fahan,
I’ve read the new of your arrestation on a Spanish newspaper (www.lavanguardia.com).
I hope you continue your blog very soon.
From this distant country (chile), I ask God to protect it in his captivity and he should be prompt liberated you. You feel my support and my respect, for a free person is free to express his ideas in a society as conservative as in that you live, and that for us the western ones is so difficult to understand. I hope that you should continue with his blogger. And the Saudi government gets my condemnation for his capture. Excuse my English that is very basic.
Hey, I just heared about your arrestation on a french radio.
I really feel upset about it. I wholeheartedly hope that you will
soon be released and keep your blogging activity, inch’allah. Wish you all the best… By the way, I really admire you for daring to
express against the saudi government!
May God protect Fouad…I hope that one day Saudi leaders will respect Human Rights…
I read about this on Foxnews.com, and heard about it on several radio and tv news shows. I hope that as word spreads all places that seek to supress freedom of thought and speech will realize that they can never win– that their actions produce even more determination by those they seek to silence.
I am going to link this story to my web journal. Keep his story out there!
THE WHOLE WORLD KNOWS!!! The Saudi Govt. has amplified your voice more than you possibly have done for yourself. People from all across the world are reading about your story and making their way to this blog. Your voice truly is one of the loudest in the world right now and we are all moved to listen and read. May you feel comfort in the fact that from now on the world is your audience. Free Fouad.
Le monde est à l’écoute. Les gens du monde entier sont au courant de cette histoire et prêts à se mobiliser. (same text as prévious message: People from all across the world are reading about your story…)
the goverment and ministry must be very stupid.
let this boy getting free and with a free mind.
greets from germany
When the truth is ready to speak out loud and tell its story~it will do so. Locking up Fouad has only made the voice LOUDER and circulate around the world!
Free Fouad!
Do we live in 2008? The fairy tale 1000 and one night is over. Let Fouad instantly free. We are all living in a free world. If someone says different things about that » stand up and fight for your and our rights!
Free Fouad!!!
Who believes they can control the thoughts of others? Who believes they can hide their evil desires and deeds? Who believes it is their duty to control others? Their reward awaits them. Free Fouad!
I work for a major global petrochemical company. These actions by the Saudi government do not go unnoticed, and as we see increased global cooperation through JVs and other corporate arrangements, the Saudis (and other repressive regimes) create an environment that discourages foreign experts from participating in their economy and supporting their companies. I hope they will free Fouad and recognize the importance of free speech and individual freedoms.
Having lived and worked for a number of years in Saudi this is yet another sign of how restrictive the saudi government is i hope the government sees sense and lets this innocent man go soon
Sahih Muslim – Book 20 The Book of Government
We enumerate below some of the important rights and duties of an Islamic State.
As for the rights, the Islamic State can claim full loyalty from all its citizen wholehearted cooperation in all sectors of life and complete obedience to the law of the land and the commands of the rulers so long as they are in comformity with the Laws of the Shari’ah. But where the rulers transgress the limits of the citizens have the right, not only to withdraw co-operation, but also to check the rulers from acting against the Commands of Aliah and His Apostle (may peace be upon him).
The citizens are also required to pay taxes due to the State quite willingly and not to misappropriate its funds, and to participate in Jihad in any capacity for which they are deemed fit by the authorities of the Islamic State.
So far as the duties of the Islamic State are concerned, the first and foremost duty is to protect the life, property and honour of every citizen, irrespective of his caste, creed, colour, religion or social status.
Moreover, it is also the duty of the Islamic State to protect the freedom and individual liberty of every citizen so long as there is no valid reason to curtail it. It cannot be done as an arbitrary act. The State is authorised to lay hands upon it through due process of law.
Again, freedom of expression is one of the fundamental rights of the citizen which an Islamic State must respect. (AGAIN, FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IS ONE OF THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF THE CITIZEN WHICH AN ISLAMIC STATE MUST RESPECT).
Then, it is also the duty of the Islamic State to see that no citizen remains unprovided for in respect of the basic necessities of life, viz, food, othing, shelter, medical aid and education, for the Holy Prophet (may peace be upon him) said:” The government is the guardian of those who have no guardian.”
Moreover, the State is bound to create such conditions in which the good reigns supreme in the society and evil is suppressed and exterminated, and its citizens learn to live as good Muslims.
Sahih Muslim – Book 20 – The Book on Government
We enumerate below some of the important rights and duties of an Islamic State.
As for the rights, the Islamic State can claim full loyalty from all its citizen wholehearted cooperation in all sectors of life and complete obedience to the law of the land and the commands of the rulers so long as they are in comformity with the Laws of the Shari’ah. But where the rulers transgress the limits of the citizens have the right, not only to withdraw co-operation, but also to check the rulers from acting against the Commands of Aliah and His Apostle (may peace be upon him).
The citizens are also required to pay taxes due to the State quite willingly and not to misappropriate its funds, and to participate in Jihad in any capacity for which they are deemed fit by the authorities of the Islamic State.
So far as the duties of the Islamic State are concerned, the first and foremost duty is to protect the life, property and honour of every citizen, irrespective of his caste, creed, colour, religion or social status.
Moreover, it is also the duty of the Islamic State to protect the freedom and individual liberty of every citizen so long as there is no valid reason to curtail it. It cannot be done as an arbitrary act. The State is authorised to lay hands upon it through due process of law.
Again, freedom of expression is one of the fundamental rights of the citizen which an Islamic State must respect.(AGAIN, FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IS ONE OF THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF THE CITIZEN WHICH AN ISLAMIC STATE MUST RESPECT).
Then, it is also the duty of the Islamic State to see that no citizen remains unprovided for in respect of the basic necessities of life, viz, food, othing, shelter, medical aid and education, for the Holy Prophet (may peace be upon him) said:” The government is the guardian of those who have no guardian.”
Moreover, the State is bound to create such conditions in which the good reigns supreme in the society and evil is suppressed and exterminated, and its citizens learn to live as good Muslims.
[...] Day of Blog Silence to Protest the Imprisonment of Blogger Fouad Alfarhan When? Sunday, January, 2008 Where? blogs around the world How? On that [...]
[...] is a ‘Blog Silence Day‘ to protest the imprisonment of Fouad [...]
[...] learn more about Fouad Ahmad Alfarhan, go here, here, and here. At the latter site, you’re invited to sign a petition seeking his immediate [...]
[...] al Omran of well known blog Saudi Jeans has with some other people launched the Free Fouad campaign. Please visit the site and show your support for Fouad and his [...]
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everybody should mention this in their blog or if you know a person who has a blog, it is a terrible day when a man can be arrested for speaking his mind, this can never be tolerated and we shouldn’t allow this to happen, put on the pressure to help Fouad Al-Farhan any way you can
It is absolutely appalling that this guy has been jailed for merely speaking his mind. I hope they let him out soon.
Be strong!
I hope you will be with family and friends again soon!
And please, keep up your good work!
Speaking the truth and using our given right to use the freedom of speech is almost all we can do these days.
Thanks for having done so!
[...] Day of Blog Silence to Protest the Imprisonment of Blogger Fouad Alfarhan When? Sunday, January, 2008 Where? blogs around the world How? On that [...]
[...] Day of Blog Silence to Protest the Imprisonment of Blogger Fouad Alfarhan When? Sunday, January, 2008 Where? blogs around the world How? On that [...]
People, have you considered starting a group on Facebook? You can quickly get large numbers of people mobilised! Just an idea…
[...] is a ‘Blog Silence Day‘ to protest the imprisonment of Fouad AlfarhanFouad Alfarhan is a Saudi blogger who uses his blog, alfarhan.org, to [...]