Ahmed Al-Omran

In 1984, I was born in a big town called Hassa, east of Saudi Arabia. In 2002, I moved to the capital Riyadh to study at King Saud University. Currently, my life is divided between those two cities. My main motivation to do this is because I want to give a better view to the world about what's really happening in my country and the Middle East in general. I maintain two blogs: Saudi Jeans in English, and Yawmyat in Arabic. Recently, I co-founded Saudi Blogs, the first serious attempt to build the Saudi bloggers community.

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Latest posts by Ahmed Al-Omran

Pulse of the Saudi Blogoshpere

Let's start our roundup for this week with the coverage of international media on Saudi Arabia, which has drawn the attention of many bloggers. Mansur posts a comment on a story from the BBC website. He says: Now what kind of Deputy Minister would share this kind of information with...

Pulse of the Saudi Blogosphere

Football and ice hockey, hijab and fatwas, bloggers meetups, and much much more from the Saudi blogosphere this week. Let's go… Starting with Swalfy, who did not seem so surprised that Riyadh Gitex, which supposed to be the biggest IT exhibition in Saudi Arabia does not has a website. He...

Pulse of the Saudi Blogosphere

It had been a relatively quiet week in the Saudi blogosphere this week. However, several good posts can be found by bloggers from inside the country, and also by those who live abroad. So, let's get it started… A new community website for Saudi bloggers has been causing much controversy,...

Pulse of the Saudi Blogosphere

It's another eventful week in the Saudi blogosphere, so let's get started with our weekly roundup… Providing a proper work environment for Saudi women was one of the major goals of the new labor law that was published few months ago, but the question is: how the employers are going...

Pulse of the Saudi Blogosphere

Mohsen Al-Awaji was freed after 11 days of detention, and Aya thinks this action by the government is a tangible lesson for Saudis: “Don’t you dare to criticize the government because we are capable, at any time, of stripping you from your freedom and dignity.” Riyadhwai seemed happy about the...

Fouad Al-Farhan: We Have to Move On

If you have been following Global Voices for more than six months, then you probably have read the name of Fouad Al-Farhan in this space several times before this one. Actually, one of my posts here back in October 2005 featured a post by Al-Farhan, when he left a meeting...

Saudi Bloggers React to the Arrest of a Writer

According to several Saudi blogs and forums, the Saudi authorities have arrested the Islamic intellectual Dr. Mohsen Al-Awaji after he published an article on the web, in which he criticized Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, the minister of labor. In his article, Al-Awaji accused Al-Gosaibi of leading a group that tries to change...

Pulse of the Saudi Blogosphere

So, what's the most interesting stuff Saudi bloggers have been talking about in the past seven days? Let's take our weekly tour in the Saudi blogosphere to find out. Aya posts on her experience with the current state of the Saudi blogosphere, saying she is very encouraged by finding many...

Pulse of the Saudi Blogosphere

Different topics were under the spotlight in the Saudi blogosphere during the past week; including terrorist attacks, crash of the stock market, and nationalism. So, let's get started with our roundup for this week… Writing about the latest terrorist attack on oil refineries in Abqaiq, east of the country, Abu-Joori...

Pulse of the Saudi Blogosphere

  25 February 2006

Many different and interesting topics were discussed in the Saudi blogosphere this week, so let's start our roundup right away. What is the difference between democracy and American democracy? Hassan thinks he has the answer (Arabic). “In democracy, those who gain more votes should win. In American democracy, those who...

Pulse of the Saudi Blogosphere

  16 February 2006

Like the rest of the world, the infamous Danish cartoons was one of the main topics discussed in the Saudi blogosphere during the past two weeks. Abu-Joori believes that boycotting Danish products was a very civil choice, even though he understands that neither the Danish government nor the Danish people...

Pulse of the Saudi Blogosphere

  24 November 2005

This week was even quieter than last week in the Saudi blogosphere. However, we can still find some interesting posts from here and there. Unfortunately, most of our featured posts for this week are in Arabic. I know that most of you can't read Arabic, so I tried my best...

Pulse of the Saudi Blogosphere

  17 November 2005

This week was a little bit quiet at the Saudi blogosphere. Probably most bloggers have decided to the chance of the very nice weather in Saudi Arabia these days by camping in the desert or going to the beach. However, there were several posts of note, so let's take a...

Pulse of the Saudi Blogosphere

  10 November 2005

Eid is an occasion of amusement, a time of the year people always relate to with happiness and joy. However, for some Saudi bloggers, this Eid was a little different. For example, Nzingha did not have fun, and thinks that Eids “are generally boring anyway.” Meanwhile, Riyadhawi have decided to...

Pulse of the Saudi Blogosphere

  27 October 2005

This week, Abu Hamad has a question to his Saudi readers: “what would you do if Bush and his “junta” decided to invade Saudi?” He thinks that with current state of affairs it is extremely unlikely, but asks his reader not to try to limit their imaginations. Farooha had a...

Pulse of the Saudi Blogosphere

  20 October 2005

On a recent interview with Barbara Walters on ABC News, King Abdullah said the day when women can drive in Saudi Arabia is going to come. Riyadhawi's comment on that statement was one word: When? (Arabic) “When this day comes, the suffering of a large portion of the society will...

The Saudi Blogosphere: Post-blockage Hyperactivity

  13 October 2005

Happy Ramadhan, everyone. Welcome to this week's Saudi blogosphere roundup. The big news in the Saudi blogosphere this week was the blockage of Blogger.com. When she saw Blogger blocked, Noura started filling the unblocking form right away, however, she thought that ISU won't unblock it (Arabic). “I tried them several...

Saudi Blogosphere Roundup

Hey everyone! Welcome to the first Saudi Blogosphere Roundup. Here is a little bit about what we are talking about here: The Saudi blogosphere has about 60 blogs listed on Saudi Blogs, including bloggers who live inside and outside Saudi Arabia, in addition to bloggers from other countries who live...

Saudi Arabia Blocks Blogger and Flickr, Again

Two days ago, the Internet Services Unit (ISU) at King Abdul-Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), the governing body of the internet in Saudi Arabia, have blocked Blogger, denying users inside the country accessing their blogs. They have also blocked photos from the popular photo hosting service Flickr. Users...

Saudi Blogger Misses Chance to Meet Karen Hughes

  1 October 2005

Much controversy has surrounded the mission of Ambassador Karen Hughes, undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and Public Affairs at the US Department of State, to the Middle East. Most of Arab media said the visit is useless, because they don't believe that this woman will be able to improve...

Arab Blogging Revolution?

Occasionally, I like to take a break from my blog, and sometimes from the internet as a whole. During my latest break from my blog, I found this website. It is a cultural Arabic website. What impressed me about this website was not the content -although it looks good- but...