Saudi Arabia facts of the day

i) In Saudi Arabia, for each earner there are 6 dependents.

ii) 6% of the workforce are women.

iii) It is estimated that almost 50% of all marriages end in divorce.

iv) More than half the country’s graduates are women.

v) There are very few things women are allowed to do without asking for male consent first. Women are not allowed to vote or hold political office in Saudi Arabia.

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All facts are from Sharmeen Obaid’s documentary Women of the Holy Kingdom, a program sent on DR2 this evening.

Yet another blogger in trouble

In Saudi Arabia, Fouad al-Farhan has been thrown in jail:

Farhan, 32, who used his blog to criticize corruption and call for political reform, was detained “for violating rules not related to state security,” according to the spokesman, Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, responding to repeated requests for comment with a brief cellphone text message.

Farhan’s Dec. 10 arrest was reported last week on the Internet and has been condemned by bloggers in Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Bahrain. The Saudi news media have not yet reported the arrest, but more than 200 bloggers in the kingdom have criticized Farhan’s detention, and a group of supporters have set up a Free Fouad Web site.

Farhan, who was educated in the United States and owns a computer programming company, was arrested at his office in Jiddah and then brought home, where his laptop was confiscated, said his wife, who spoke on condition that her name not be published to protect her privacy. “They arrested him because of his blog. I haven’t seen him since. We don’t know where he is,” she said.

Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy that restricts press and speech freedoms, does not allow political parties, civil rights groups or public gatherings.

‘Rules not related to state security’ – gotta love that, very specific… Bastards!

The Free Fouad site is here. The beginning of this Amnesty International report on Saudi Arabia (in Danish), even if it is a few years old, probably explains pretty well what al-Farhan is going through at the moment.

HT: Glenn Reynolds.

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Update til danske læsere: Kommer lige i tanke om, at DR2 i aften sender dokumentaren Kvinder i Saudi-Arabien, måske er den værd at se, hvis man har tid til det. At den er kommet gennem statscensuren peger i den modsatte retning, men hvis man læser mellem linjerne, vil der sandsynligvis stadig være lidt virkelighed tilbage under al sminken.