In a move some surmise is intended to intimidate Saudi bloggers, Saudi police arrested Fouad Al-Farhan for writing about political prisoners in Saudi Arabia.
Al-Farhan may have been deliberately targeted not only for this reason, but because he was also organizing gatherings of Saudi political bloggers. And everyone knows what authoritarian regimes think of gatherings of political dissidents.He may also have been vulnerable on account of using his real name.
Clearly, all bloggers have a stake in the suppression of freedom of the electronic press. Although I personally try not to get caught up in every other blog-related cause, I do encourage all political bloggers of all political stripes to throw their support firmly behind Fouad Al-Farhan, and remind Saudi Arabia that the eyes of the world are watching.
Looks to me like we are suffering from suppression of freedom in a supposedly "free" country by the likes of a certain lawyer, the CHRC, and socialists. So, seems to me, authoritarian regimes aren't the only culprits. IMHO
ReplyDeletePerhaps. But the problem isn't so much the Canadian Human Rights Commission as it is the way the CHRC operates.
ReplyDeleteI find the CHRC to be more of a mixed bag, but I've addressed that elsewhere.
a few days earlier, there was an article on a Chinese blogger who was hauled away to prison as well - Net and telephone access were cut to his home and his present whereabouts are unknown.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/29/asia/AS-GEN-China-Activist-Detained.php
You're right - all bloggers should be concerned about such actions.
Perhaps its time for bloggers of all political stripes to organize across international borders in mutual defense of freedom of speech.
ReplyDelete