Fouad Mourtada is Free!
Since I have already blogged about this elsewhere, I’ll keep it short and sweet. Fouad Mourtada was freed today on a royal pardon after serving 25 days of a three year sentence. His crime: impersonating Prince Moulay Rachid of Morocco on social networking site Facebook.
Now Fouad is free, but what’s next? Will he be blacklisted from his profession, engineering? Will he face ridicule? Will his family be affected? What Fouad did was silly, stupid even, but not a crime. He may be free, but will his life ever be the same?
And while Fouad is free, there are plenty others who are not. Fouad Alfarhan, Tariq Biassi, and AbdelKarim Nabil Soliman are all bloggers behind bars. Visit Global Voices Advocacy for ways to get involved in the fight for free speech.
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19.03.2008Esra’a
Hi Jillian, thanks for this post. But actually, Abdel-Monem is not imprisoned anymore. He was freed a long time ago, I believe after about 45 days of his sentence. You might like to add this Syrian blogger to your list, however:
http://www.gopetition.com/online/16461.html
The campaign’s official website is temporarily down, apparently due to a billing issue. Worth checking out when it’s back up though.
19.03.2008Jillian
Thank you Esra’a – that’ll teach me not to write in the middle of the night!
20.03.2008Maroc Kish
It s a good news, i m talking about in my blog too. I wish h ll be able to find a job easly and that he can forget everything about what he lives in jail.
25.03.2008La gatita gringa
Thanks for sharing this! Great news indeed!