In Saudi Arabia, Fouad is Still in Prison

Mary — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:12:03 -0400

I've been blogging a lot recently about Fouad Mourtada, the young Moroccan man sentenced to three years in jail for posting a joke profile of the King's brother on Facebook.

Yet there is another Fouad - Fouad Alfarhan - who has been in jail for three months with no release imminent. Fouad, who is a politically vocal blogger, was arrested on December 10th, and an online campaign to free him started soon after.

However, when President Bush visited Saudi Arabia in mid-January, Fouad's wife asked the people taking part in the campaign to back down, fearing that the campaign

(Read more)

In Morocco, Facebook is a Crime

Mary — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:25:52 -0300

On February 5, computer engineer Fouad Mourtada was blindfolded and taken from his house in Casablanca, Morocco. He was taken to a police station where he was harassed and spat on by local police. Two weeks later, on February 22, he was sentence to three years in prison and a $1350 fine. His crime was creating a fake profile of Prince Moulay Rachid, the King's brother on Facebook.

As Laila Lalami comments on The Nation's web site, "there are fake profiles on Facebook for everyone from Brad Pitt to Mother Teresa, from King Abdullah to Osama bin Laden.

(Read more)

Free Fouad Petition - 5000 Signatures for Fouad!

Mary — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 13:31:00 -0300

Despite heavy press coverage, Saudi blogger Fouad Al-Farhan remains in prison.
Now Avaaz, an international digital activism organization with over 1 million members worldwide, is joining the fight free Fouad.
They have posted a petition demanding Fouad's release and are hoping to get 2500 signatures.

Only 2500 signatures for Fouad? I bet we can get at least twice that!

Let's get 5000 signatures for Fouad!

Here's what you can do:

1. Sign the petition to free Fouad here (English) of here (Arabic).

2. Write a post on your blog asking your readers to sign the petition too.(Read more)

Free Fouad on CNN

Mary — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 13:39:16 -0300

A great piece on CNN about Fouad Alfarhan's imprisonment and the blog campaign to free him:

Day of Blog Silence for Fouad

Mary — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 21:43:41 -0300

Free Fouad Quote Randomizer

Mary — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 22:03:56 -0300

Please ad the Free Fouad quote randomizer to your blog. The quote randomizer scrolls through a list of quotes by jailed Saudi blogger Fouad Alfarhan. Even though the Saudi government is trying to silence Fouad, should them that jailing a blogger will only carry their words further.
Just embed the following code in the sidebar of your blog:
"

The Campign to Free Fouad

Mary — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 20:35:41 -0300

Fouad Alfaran, only of Saudi Arabia's most important bloggers, was arrested on December 10 for blogging about Saudi Arabia's political prisoners. Ironically, he is now a political prisoner himself.
The campaign to free him is taking advantage of several digital activism techniques, including a Free Fouad blog (in English and Arabic), a Free Fouad Facebook group, and an e-petition.
Please consider taking action by signing the petition, joining the Facebook group, and learning more about the case on the blog. I'll be posting more about this campaign as it develops.