According to Global Voices Advocacy, Al Farhan was arrested on 10 December 2007 for unspecified “violation of non-security regulations.”

Saudi Arabia:

For Saudi Jeans, Al Farhan’s release was a good way to start his day. He writes:

I woke up around 5:30 this morning on the beeping of my iPhone which received a short message from the wife of my friend and fellow blogger Fouad al-Farhan telling me that Fouad has been released and that he is back home with his family now. That’s great news and this is just how I wanted to start my morning!

Al Farhan’s fellow blogger, Mashi 97 (Ar), from Saudi Arabia, received more than 140 congratulatory comments when he made this announcement:

قبل دقائق قليلة فقط

رجع المدون السعودي فؤاد أحمد الفرحان لمنزله بعد خروجه من السجن .

الحمدلله الحمدلله الحمدلله

A few minutes ago only
Saudi blogger Fouad Ahmed Al Farhan has returned home after being released from prison.
Thank Allah, Thank Allah, Thank Allah.

Another Saudi blogger Ibrahim (Ar) wants an explanation to why Al Farhan was arrested. He writes:

في الأمس كنا فرحين بالإفراج عن فؤاد الفرحان
ولازلنا فرحين
ولكن سؤالي .. ماذا بعد الإفراج عن فؤاد؟
أربعة أشهر قضاها الأخ فؤاد في سجن أو توقيف ( مانختلف ) تحت الإستجواب
وكان السبب في كل هذا هو ” تهمة غير أمنيه” و ” إختراق لبعض اللوائح ”
وأستغرب من هذه الكلمات الفضفاضه
أنا كمدون أحب أن أعرف ماهي اللوائح التي تم اختراقها , ليتم تفاديها
أو ماهي التهم الغير أمنيه ليتم تفاديها أيضاً
هذا في حال أنها تستحق هذا المسمى (اختراق للوائح) فكلنا يجب أن يعرف ماهي اللوائح المخترقه

Yesterday were were happy for Fouad Al Farhan’s release.
And we are still happy.
But my question is .. what after Fouad’s release?
He spent four months in prison or custody (we won’t differ on this), where he was interrogated.
The reason given was “a non-security related accusation” and “breaking some laws.”
I am surprised at those vague words.
As a blogger, I want to know what are the laws he has broken so that we don’t commit them and what are the non-security related offences, so that we can overcome them. In case they deserve to be labelled as “breaking laws,” we all need to know what are the laws which have been broken.

Rasheed Abou-Alsamh too has questions in his head and writes:

Fouad was arrested in Jeddah on Dec. 10, 2007, and was held in a detention center for for more than four months because of the various entries on his blog that called for less corruption and more accountability in Saudi Arabia.

Will he continue blogging now that he has been released? That is a question that only Fouad can answer. I’m sure we will find out soon enough. For now, Fouad probably just wants to forget his ordeal and bond with is family.

Egypt:

From Egypt, Al Anany is also excited about Al Farhan’s release and shares the following wish:

اليوم فرحة المدونين العرب وبالخصوص السعوديين منهم لا توصف بعد الإفراج اليوم عن المدون السعودي فؤاد الفرحان .. ومن هنا ، من سيناء نهنئ أنفسنا وكل من آزر فؤاد الفرحان بخروجه من السجن وعودته الي منزله ، ونتمنى من الله عز وجل أن يتم الإفراج عن كل المدونين العرب ، وعن مسعد أبو فجر ابن سيناء وصاحب مدونة ودنا نعيش

Today is a happy day for Arab bloggers, and in particular the Saudis, whose happiness cannot be measured after the release of Saudi blogger Fouad Al Farhan. From here, from Sinai, we congratulate ourselves and all those who stood by Fouad until his release from prison and his return home. We ask Allah for the release of all Arab bloggers, especially Musad Abu Fajr, the son of Sinai, who runs the blog, We Want to Live.

Still in Egypt, Zeinobia awaits the news of the release of another blogger - this time in Syria. She writes:

Congratulations for Fouad and his family.
Hopefully all the other bloggers detained in the Arab world will be free soon and return to other families especially Tarek from Syria.

Bahrain:

Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif is still scratching his head. He writes:

We don’t know the details of his release and what he had to give up or sign for the authorities to finally let him go, I suspect we will hear his stories quite soon - I hope.
In any case, I am very happy indeed for his release.
Welcome home Fouad!

Bahraini Esra’a wonders if Al Farhan will continue blogging after his release. She writes:

We are really happy to see him safe and free, however I wonder if he will continue blogging after what had happened. Let’s hope that he will never endure what he has gone through these past few months.

Sudan:

The Sudanese Thinker makes the following announcement:

Saudi blogger Fuad alFarhan has finally been released after spending 137 days in jail for simply speaking his mind politely and eloquently. Meanwhile, the Saudi government has no problem whatsoever allowing the shouts and rants of many preachers of death.

Lovely!

Meanwhile, The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (Ar) demands the lifting of the ban on Al Farhan’s blog in Saudi Arabia. It says:

من الجيد التراجع عن استمرار اعتقال فؤاد الفرحان ، ولكن رغم سعادتنا بالإفراج عنه ، فنحن ننتظر أن تعلن الحكومة السعودية بوضوح أسباب اعتقاله ، ومن كان صاحب قرار اعتقاله ، و أن يرفع الحجب عن مدونته فورا”.

It is good that Fouad Al Farhan is no longer arrested, but despite our happiness with his release, we are waiting for the Saudi government to announce clearly why he was arrested and who ordered his arrest. We also call for the immediate lift of the ban on his blog.

115 days after his arrest, on 10 December 2007, Fouad Alfarhan remains jailed for unspecified “violation of non-security regulations.” On March 11th, 2008, his nine-year old daughter, Raghad, has released a YouTube video message for her father saying: “Daddy I miss you. When are you coming back home?”

A recent report by Freefouad Blog said Fouad was allowed, for the first time, on March 3rd, 2008, to make a phone call to his wife.

Fouad told her that he is in a good shape and his morale is high. He said he is hoping that authorities would soon allow others to visit him in jail. (…) Fouad would like to thank all those who supported him and his family during these tough times.

Under Saudi law, Fouad can be held for questioning without charges for six months.

The goals of the “Fouad’s Week” event, as outlined on the blog campaign, are to:

1- Let Fouad rest assured that he WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN, this is the only thing he asked for before his detention.

2- Send a message to those who detained him: “Violating one’s right to speak peacefully and freely, will only support his message, and give it a burst of momentum”.

From their side, human rights organisations expressed concern and called for the release of Fouad Alfarhan. And while Reporters Without Borders condemned the government’s silence on the matter, Amnesty International has expressed fears that he is being tortured. “He is still being held, without charges and without access to a lawyer, a doctor or his wife. For someone to be held in secrecy like this, it is likely he is being ill-treated, interrogated or tortured. Why else would he be held in secrecy?” Lamri Chirouf, a researcher at Amnesty International, told ArabianBusiness.com.

In the meantime, Hands Across the Middle East Alliance (HAMSA) , a non-profit organization that works to connect activist efforts in America and the Middle East, organized a vigil on Saturday 9 February in front of the Saudi embassy in Washington, D.C. to draw attention to the Fouad’s case. The rally marked the 60th day of the blogger’s imprisonment. The HAMSA initiative has also launched an online letter-writing campaign addressed to Saudi Foreign Affairs Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal. So far, 1330 people have sent letters.

Image from the C.R.I.M.E. Report a bi-weekly e-newsletter published by the HAMSA initiative.

I spoke with Nasser Weddady, a Mauritanian activist who directs HAMSA’s outreach efforts, about this rally and the effectiveness of mixing offline an online activism:

Sami: Last Saturday Hands Across the Middle East Alliance (HAMSA) organized a vigil in front of the Saudi embassy in Washington, D.C., why did you felt the need to take to the streets and demonstrate?

Nasser: The issue for us is why we didn’t do it sooner. This rally happened two months after Fouad was arrested. Activism is not only online, it is also on the ground. Here in the US, we have the freedom to organize. In fact, the Saudi embassy security minder tried to intimidate us thinking that he could simply make us go away because his government does not like a protest in front of its embassy. There are a lot of people here who are very concerned about Fouad and want to do more than writing a letter. Besides, I was initially scheduled to come Washington to give a talk about Fouad’s case to Congress so we decided that we should have both events.

Sami:Did you get any reaction from the Saudi embassy?

Nasser: The Saudi embassy security tried to intimidate us at first. They insisted on seeing some sort of permission to be on public grounds — no such thing is required. However, we had gone the extra mile by having filed for a permit to run a demonstration. A totally superficial formality. Then they called for the Capitol Police to monitor the situation. The Police officers were visibly annoyed by having to come keep an eye on a protest. Meanwhile, a Saudi individual of some capacity in the embassy was monitoring the scene and calling back and forth on his cell phone. He then asked through one of the guards to have the name of the organizers and that of the person the protest was done for. All in all, the Saudi staff’s behavior just confirmed the world’s impression of them: intolerant and muzzling.

Sami: We’ve seen dozen of activists rallies in front of Egyptian embassies around the world calling for the release of the detained blogger kareem Amer without any success. How optimistic are you about this kind of actions and why has nothing changed?

Nasser: Grass roots protests typically don’t generate results immediately. It took the US civil rights movement YEARS of grass roots protest to end segregation. The campaign for the Burmese dissident Ang Su Kyi has been going on for a decade. It would be strange to think that US activists in the 50’s and 60’s or the Burmese monks who took to the streets last year are wasting their time. The protests are a key component of a larger campaign. They will not necessarily per se get an activist released, but are rather an element of multi-faceted struggle. Every time a protest happens a report gets sent back by these diplomats to their governments letting them know that these dissidents are not forgotten. It is also a moral statement that we will use the freedom we have here to demonstrate and will exercise it to support dissidents under fire.

Sami: Free Kareem and Free Fouad campaigns are very successful in attracting the attention of the global blogosphere and the mainstream media, though, they didn’t achieve their goal of releasing booth detained bloggers, how can you explain that? Do you believe there is a correlation between a successful media campaign and a failed mission when it comes to the Middle East, a region that is very sensitive to foreign pressures?

Nasser: The decision-making process about handling dissidents is very complex and varies from case to case. the question for activists is not to outguess the dictators. The challenge is to stand up for what is right and take action. A media campaign alone will not necessarily get someone out of jail. It is, however, a vital component of a successful campaign. Harry Truman had an expression: “Sunshine is the best disinfectant”. Generally the best and most effective step to solve a problem is to acknowledge it and spot-light it instead of remaining silent. We are optimistic that Kareem and Fouad and the other bloggers we never hear about and who are behind bars will be released-thanks to grass roots protests, media coverage, diplomatic interventions and letters from thousands around the world who care. What HAMSA is strategically aiming to achieve is fusing online and offline activism. We want to create air cover for dissidents. Ultimately what we need is for lots of people to join these campaigns to succeed. Next time a free Fouad rally happens a thousand people should be there.

Update 2: According the the NY Times, the spokesperson for the Saudi Interior Ministry said that Fouad “is not being jailed. He is being questioned, and I don’t believe he will remain in detention long. They will get the information that they need from him and then they will let him go .”

The leading Saudi blogger, Fouad Alfarhan, who has been arrested in Jeddah on December 10, 2007 for exercising his freedom of speech on his popular blog alfarhan.org has sent a letter few days before his arrest to his friends:

I was told that there is an official order from a high-ranking official in the Ministry of the Interior to investigate me. They will pick me up anytime in the next 2 weeks.

The issue that caused all of this is because I wrote about the political prisoners here in Saudi Arabia and they think I’m running a online campaign promoting their issue. All what I did is wrote some pieces and put side banners and asked other bloggers to do the same.
he asked me to comply with him and sign an apology. I’m not sure if I’m ready to do that. An apology for what? Apologizing because I said the government is liar when they accused those guys to be supporting terrorism?

To expect the worst which is to be jailed for 3 days till we write good feedback about you and let u go

there may be no jial and only apologizing letter. But, if it’s more than three days, it should be out. I don’t want to be forgotten in jail.

According to his wife with whom we talked, Fouad’s arrest was directly linked to his blogging activities. He may remain in custody for a one-month investigation period. After that his family will be allowed to visit him and be informed about his case and the possible charges that might be brought against him. Fouad is apparently being held, without charge or trial, at the Ministry of Interior’s security service (al-Mabahith al-’Amma) headquarter in Jeddah. He has been arrested at his office in Jeddah and had been led to his home where police confiscated his laptop computer.

This is not the first time that Fouad has run into trouble with Saudi authorities. Last year, Fouad was questioned by plainclothes police and was forced to shut down his blog. After a hiatus of few months, Fouad decided to continue blogging.

Several bloggers and activists are organizing an online Free Fouad campaign at freefouad.com to call attention to Fouad. As so far, a support group created on Facebook for Fouad has gathered 295 members.

In a statement issued on December 24, 2007, The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information condemned the “unjustified detention” of blogger Fouad Alfarhan and urged the Saudi authorities to reveal the reason of arresting him. “When the Saudi authorities arrest a young man writing maturely and is against terrorism and calls for reformation, it is a serious indicator for how far are the fanatic and those opposing freedom of expression and reformation are taking over in Saudi Arabia,” the executive director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, Mr. Gamal said.