A Saudi blogger and reform advocate, whose detention without charge four months ago sparked US criticism, told reporters on Sunday he was “very happy” to be free and had been “fairly” treated in custody.
But Fouad al-Farhan, who was released on Saturday from a prison in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, said he would not comment on the details of his case for the time being.
“I am very happy to be back with family and friends. I appreciate their help [while I was in detention],” Farhan said by telephone from the resort of Taef near Jeddah, where he was visiting his mother.
Farhan said that while in prison, “I was treated equally like everyone else — fairly.”
It was “a good treatment,” he said, adding that he was healthy and in good spirits.
Farhan, a 32-year-old father of two, said he would not comment on the reasons for his detention for now.
“Anyway, my main concern is to help our youth not become involved in terrorist activities and end up in prison,” he said.
Saudi Arabia has been battling attacks by suspected al-Qaeda militants for the past five years.
Farhan had been held since Dec. 10 in a move which unnerved the blogger community in ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia and drew calls for his release from international human rights watchdogs as well as the US government.
Washington said in January that it had raised Farhan’s case with the authorities in Riyadh “at a relatively senior level.”
“And our message to the Saudi government was pretty clear,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
“And that is that the United States stands for freedom of expression ... And wherever people are seeking to express themselves, via the Internet or via other means, whether that’s in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere around the world, we stand for that freedom of expression,” he said.
The Saudi daily Arab News reported on Sunday that official statements said Farhan had been detained for “violating regulations,” but no charges were ever pressed.
Farhan told reporters that despite four months in detention, “I will be back blogging” — although he was not sure when.
Farhan’s blog (www.alfarhan.org) on Sunday featured an announcement that “Fouad is Free” alongside a picture of the blogger, and a brief report on his release. Previous video clips and reports about his detention were also posted.
According to earlier reports, Farhan wrote to friends two weeks before his arrest saying he expected to be detained for his writings about a group of reformists arrested in February last year for alleged links to terror funding.
Prior to his arrest, Farhan had also criticized a number of influential Saudi figures as well as religious extremism in the oil-rich Muslim kingdom.
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