Security Bullet In
Communiques from the security front, sir
Friday 4 January 2008, 5:35 PM
Saudis admit to locking up blogger
The Saudi government has admitted to detaining a blogger, Fouah al-Farhan, the New York Times reports.
Well known for criticising the Saudi regime, al-Farhan has been locked up since December 10. He is "being questioned about specific violations of nonsecurity laws," according to Gen. Mansour al-Turki, an Interior Ministry spokesman.
According to an Amnesty International report on Saudi Arabia, in 2007, "peaceful critics of the government were subjected to prolonged detention without charge or trial. There were allegations of torture, and floggings continued to be imposed by the courts. Violence against women was prevalent and migrant workers suffered discrimination and abuse."
At least 39 people were executed in Saudi Arabia in 2007, using a sword, according to Amnesty International.
Yet our royal family, and government, fete the Saudis. According to the
PreviousComments on this post
Whilst recognising and condemning the Saudi's human rights' violations, It usually helps to write balanced articles that don't insinuate ridiculous things...
How can you follow up "violence against women......discrimination and abuse", with "..39 people were executed..."
One is a matter of social responsibility and the other pertains to the saudi judicial system, which incidentally is not the only system implementing capital punishment.
Yes I absolutely agree with you regarding corruption in all governments, including our own. but didnt you know.. money makes the world go around....
I just have to laugh at the irony of it all.
censoring me in a post about human rights and saudi censorship.
This hypocrisy is not new to me, I just wonder if you can see it.
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My goodness, i can't imagine how they execute people by sword, thats barbaric. In any other situation our government and others would apply pressure, but it seems we need saudi oil!
Many thanks for the above comments.
While I agree with you teh_leet, that it's not intellectually rigorous to confound different systems -- e.g. locking people up without charge, and a judicial system which deals with people once they have been charged, I personally believe that any judicial system that can take a human's life infringes on their rights, i.e., their right to life. You are more than welcome to disagree.
Harpless, many thanks for your comments on this and in other threads. I rather think that the government does believe we need to court oil, and oil money.
I’m not surprised to see this kind of thing happening. I lived and worked in the United Arab Emirates for four years working for The Khaleej Times national newspaper as well as various computer trade magazines so got under the skin of the national psyche to some degree. The UAE borders the Kingdom (as most will know) and many Saudi’s come and go between the two countries.
The Arabian Gulf is a strange place, I once heard the government referred to by a fellow Brit as a “benign dictatorship” and that sums it up nicely.
You must behave, if you know the rules it’s easy. You never talk about the government in public in a negative way, not in a bar, not in a hotel, not in the street. You take your residence visa, tax-free salary, Jeep and complimentary flights on Emirates and you shut your mouth thank you very much. I am not saying it's right - just trying to explain how it works in practice.
A national (or an Arab at least), as Mr al-Farhan is, should know better. But that doesn’t stop it being inevitable that this kind of quest for freedom of speech should naturally migrate to the Internet and blogging.
I could only stand a few years, so no wonder the national population feel they have to say something. Bang goes my next entry visa to Dubai I guess.
