The Saudi nation has just released a campaign addressed to US President Barack Obama, asking him to release the Saudi prisoner Humeidan Al-Turki [1]. Al Turki, a PhD student in Colorado, was sentenced to 28 years to life in prison for abusing his maid.
The campaign calling for his release started when famous youth advocate Najeeb Alzamil [2] wrote in an article published a year ago: “Facebook users.. A message to Obama: Release Humaidan.” (Ar) [3] The Facebook campaign attracted more than 18,000 fans. A short clip written directed by Almuhannad Alkadam [4] has been viewed by more than 200,000 in just two days. The short clip features well known Saudi figures, religious and secular ones. It also features Alturki’s daughter, Ruba, speaking about growing up without a father. The message has gone viral within the society and the clip has been posted by Saudis in all types of social networking pages: Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. From the campaign’s Facebook wall [5] Noonh Mohmmed writes:
Aseer Almahba praised the campaign and hoped it reaches the American president:
Moreover, the clip and news of the campaign made it to the local newspapers, as well as internationally, such as CNN's iReport [6].
On Facebook, the fans are trying to reach as many Americans as possible by contacting the US’ pages and encouraging them to spread the word.
According to Swaier Nwaier, Okhlahoma did send its fans a link to the clip:
However, not all Saudis were satisfied with the clip and those featured in it. From the campaign's page on Facebook, Abdularahna Aljaser shares his opinion on the appearance of a Shia figure, Alsaffar:
And from Twitter, SaudiLawyer [7] had something to say about the short clip: