Plight of jailed blogger exaggerated by media

MEDIA BLAMED: Saudi's deputy interior minister said the media had exaggerated the plight of Al-Farhan (C).

The media "exaggerated" the plight of jailed Saudi blogger Fouad Al-Farhan, the kingdom’s Deputy Interior Minister Prince Ahmed said on Sunday.

Al-Farhan, 32, was released on Saturday after spending four months in a Jeddah prison, despite having no charges pressed against him.

RELATED: Saudi blogger free after four-month ordeal

Before his December 10 arrest, Al-Farhan wrote to friends saying he expected to be detained for his writings about a group of reformists arrested in February 2007 for alleged links to terror funding. Al-Farhan had also criticised a number of influential Saudi figures as well as religious extremism in the kingdom.

However Price Ahmed said Al-Farhan had been arrested for mistakes he had committed, according to a report from Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

“The issue [of Al-Farhan] was not that important as it represented the mistake committed by a person on himself. A man who commits a mistake should bear its result,” the agency quoted Prince Ahmed.

Prince Ahmed did not confirm whether Al-Farhan had been released after his arrest four months ago.

However, Al-Farhan’s wife told Saudi daily Arab News on Saturday that he had been released from Jeddah’s Dahban Prison.

After his release, Al-Farhan told newswire AFP he was treated “fairly” while imprisoned but he would not comment on the reasons for his detention for now.

RELATED: Freed blogger silent on details of detention

Al-Farhan’s arrest in the ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia drew calls for his release from the US government and sparked the launch of several campaigns and appeals for his release by international and Saudi NGOs, including the Arabic Network for Human Rights, Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists.

His detention is believed to be the first arrest of an online critic in the kingdom.

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READERS' COMMENTS

How can you print this headline?
Posted by joe simmerman, New York, New York on Monday 12 May 2008 at 16:30 UAE time


How can you print this headline? It's misleading. Nothing was exagerated. Light must be shed on corrupt governments and a commotion must be made. Nothign was exagerated!!

Fouad al Fardan
Posted by GB, Dubai, UAE on Sunday 4 May 2008 at 12:21 UAE time


And what might this "mistake" be that required more than 4 months of detention without a trial? Driving through a red traffic light perhaps?

Plight of jailed blogger exaggerated by media?
Posted by Saad, Chicago, US on Monday 28 April 2008 at 21:39 UAE time

Al-Farhan, 32, was released on Saturday after spending four months in a Jeddah prison, despite having no charges pressed against him.
How was his plight exaggerated? What did the media claim that wasn't true or exaggerated?

Saudi blogger
Posted by Salem Mohamed, Dubai, UAE on Monday 28 April 2008 at 15:09 UAE time


Yes, the prince is right, the blogger was jailed for mistakes he had committed. He was demanding something destructive that is freedom or dignity. He was critisizing corrupt officials who brand any critic as terrorist.Nice one though just like Neocons inthe US.

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