You may or may not have heard of this blogger but many have. He frequently criticizes the government’s attack upon civil liberties and human rights with bold, fiery, rhetoric causing government leaders to be “uncomfortable”. He often attacks the country’s most powerful and wealthy leaders and their corrupt policies with his sharp words, and now, he’s finally been silenced. He’s spending New Year’s Day behind bars. His “crime”? It hasn’t been “officially” declared yet; he’s simply been detained by the government for “questioning” until further notice.

From The Washington Post:

Dissident Saudi Blogger Is Arrested
Popular Internet Commentator Had Called for Political Reform

By Faiza Saleh Ambah

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Dec. 31 — Saudi Arabia’s most popular blogger, Fouad al-Farhan, has been detained for questioning, an Interior Ministry spokesman confirmed Monday. It was the first known arrest of an online critic in the kingdom.

Farhan, 32, who used his blog to criticize corruption and call for political reform, was detained “for violating rules not related to state security,” according to the spokesman, Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, responding to repeated requests for comment with a brief cellphone text message.

Farhan’s Dec. 10 arrest was reported last week on the Internet and has been condemned by bloggers in Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Bahrain. The Saudi news media have not yet reported the arrest, but more than 200 bloggers in the kingdom have criticized Farhan’s detention, and a group of supporters have set up a Free Fouad Web site.

Farhan, who was educated in the United States and owns a computer programming company, was arrested at his office in Jiddah and then brought home, where his laptop was confiscated, said his wife, who spoke on condition that her name not be published to protect her privacy. “They arrested him because of his blog. I haven’t seen him since. We don’t know where he is,” she said. …”

(Snip!)

“… Farhan’s friends have maintained his blog during his detention and posted on it an e-mail he had written to a friend shortly before his arrest.

Farhan wrote that he was told he would be released if he signed an apology for his activism. “I’m not sure if I’m ready to do that. An apology for what? Apologizing because I said the government lied when they accused those guys of supporting terrorism?”

In October, Farhan visited one of the jailed men and wrote about it on his blog, http://www.alfarhan.org. …”

Again — you say this can’t happen here? A pretty bold statement considering our brothers’ and sisters’ across the pond’s recent decision to allow their government to censor their Internet connections. Our “twin bruthas from a different mutha”, and they, too, have begun the ascent down the slippery slope of the Saudis, the Red Chinese, and other oppressive governments…

From TechCrunch.Com:

Australia Joins China In Censoring The Internet

By Duncan Riley

The Australian Government has announced that they will be joining China as one of the few countries globally that broadly censor the internet.

The Labor Party’s policy was announced prior to the Australian Election in November (release here) and was justified on the basis that the previous Government’s policy of providing free copies of NetNanny to all Australian households who wanted it didn’t adequately protect children.

As recently as the week prior to the election, Labor Party candidates were telling those concerned about the proposed law that the censorship wouldn’t be compulsory, and that the “clean feed” would be opt-in, not opt-out. Today’s announcement by Telecommunications Minister Stephen Conroy states that the censorship regime will be mandatory, although people will be able to opt-out of it. The problem of course then becomes if you opt-out questions will be asked as to why you want out, which in itself may lead to Government monitoring. …”

(Snip!)

“… bloggers or those (such as forum owners) who allow users to comment or post could find themselves blocked under this proposal should someone say or post the wrong thing. …”

So, there ya go — it CAN happen in the West and it WILL happen in the West, should my fellow Americans continue to be apathetic as our politicians, one by one, chisel; stroke by stroke; away at your individual, Creator-granted rights to speak your mind and to entertain yourself in whichever manner you wish as long as nobody else’s Creator-granted rights are violated in the process.

In this New Year, let we, as Americans; as fellow world citizens, as CONSUMERS; consider adopting the following resolutions as we spend our hard-earned household dollars:

Cut back; somehow, some WAY, on the gasoline you burn. Carpool, use public transportation if possible. Promise, and follow through on that promise, to reduce your contribution to Big Oil and the oppressive regimes of the Middle East. Even a few less dollars per week, if ALL of us were to participate, would make a HUGE impact on these enterprises…

Change your shopping habits — become more patient and shop harder and more often on the Internet. If you plan ahead, you can save more money by buying online than you can in your own hometown. Every three dollars you personally save on a buggy full of groceries at Wal-Mart is three more dollars toward the suppression of Free Speech and eventual democracy in Red China. Bloggers and “town criers” are being imprisoned there, too; headed to a (so-called) “Democracy” near you SOON…

Oh, and one more: Join myself and many others in crying out for the freeing of our fellow world citizen and co-blogger, Fouad al-Farhan, whose only “crime” is his opinion by visiting the Free Fouhad website. HAPPY NEW YEAR to Mr. al-Farhan, our readers and friends.

***

A H/T goes to MemeOrandum for The WaPo article -

See also — The Talking Dog; The Raw Story

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