Posted at MASNET http://www.masnet.org/views.asp?id=4680
MAS Freedom (MASF) is the civic and human rights advocacy entity of the Muslim
American Society (MAS), the largest Muslim grassroots, charitable, religious,
social, cultural, civic and educational organization in America - with 55
chapters in 35 states.
How Free is the Blog-o-Sphere?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fouad Ahmad al-Farhan.
By Abeer Mishkhas
SAUDI ARABIA (Arab News) Jan. 3, 2007 - When we congratulate ourselves on the
expanding role of the media in Saudi Arabia, we do this with a sense of the
different atmosphere surrounding us; there are still social problems, which we
journalists cannot write about and there are still attitudes, which are
anything but tolerant.
Tolerance is of course viewed subjectively here, and we know from experience
that tolerance can enable us to say many things that have been buried in our
hearts and minds for ages.
And yet despite our good intentions, we still use the brakes to stop ourselves
from going in too deeply; and we do that either consciously or not.
The news of the arrest in Jeddah on Dec. 10 of Saudi blogger Fouad Farhan will
be seen by many as a setback at a time when international news agencies had
begun quoting our newspapers on some of our most important and sensitive
issues.
One would think that the blog-o-sphere should be even more open and free than
newspapers.
And generally it has been: Bloggers in Saudi Arabia have varied their goals and
subjects from fun-oriented ones to social networks to comments on current
affairs.
For Saudis it was a breath of fresh air; the blog-o-sphere offered freedom and
an unrestricted space for all voices. Some of the bloggers have continued while
others, for various reasons, stopped. The blogs dealing with lighter subjects,
such as entertainment and fashion, survived while the more daring ones, which
comment on current affairs, dance close to the red lines.
Some of the bloggers went from observing and posting clips from newspapers and
TV shows to posting their own opinions.
Whether you agree with them is completely up to each person for after all that
is the beauty of the blog-o-sphere - live and let live, express and let express.
This sense of freedom is now at risk. According to some Saudi bloggers,
Farhan's arrest is making them think twice before posting comments that they
might get in trouble for.
The almost complete freedom bloggers enjoyed is now subject to the same
censorship that other websites face. Before that, censorship manifested itself
in the simple sentence which came up when you clicked on a website: "This site
is forbidden."
The arrest of Farhan, however, seems to many people to be a much more drastic
step. According to the authorities, Farhan's arrest was for "non-security
related issues" which implies that his website might not be the cause of the
arrest - and indeed, this is supported by the fact that the site is up and
running. It is not blocked.
In any case, until people hear otherwise, the assumption will be that the
website was in fact the reason for his arrest.
At a time when the world media is focusing on Saudi affairs - whether we like
it or not - a little openness could help our image a great deal. We must learn
from the Qatif Girl case.
Because the authorities refused to talk, others did the talking; all sorts of
theories came to the surface and there was no way of challenging or refuting
them as there was no clear official information.
Maybe this time a clear statement as to why Farhan is being detained on a very
imprecise charge would go a long way to clearing things up. In this age when
news is available to everyone around the clock, it is hard to be convinced by a
vague statement.
RELATED:
Family Member Given Access to Detained Blogger
U.S. Concerned for Saudi Blogger
Dissident Saudi Blogger Arrested
-----------------------
Fair Use Notice
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been
specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material
available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political,
human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc.
We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title
17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit
to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research and educational purposes. (See:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml.) If you wish to use copyrighted
material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you
must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
<<attachment: Fouad%20Ahmad%20Alfarhan.jpg>>
