Please take the time to read Constantino Diaz-Duran’s great article which has been featured in the Columbia Spectator.

And, again, thanks to Constantino’s great efforts, a rally will be taking place tomorrow.

It’s not very often that you find a person who takes the time and effort to write press releases, start groups on social networking sites, alerts other bloggers, professors, and students, puts together a great op-ed piece, and organizes a rally in just one week for the sake of a young man he hasn’t even met. And it’s even less often that you find a person who is actually willing to drive for 9 hours just to attend this rally, which is what Mohammed Shouman thought of doing.

It is only through the efforts of such people that we are able to make Kareem’s case not only known but taken very seriously. Thank you, you’ve done an amazing job at proving that true supporters of freedom of expression can actually contribute to positive change, no matter where you are. I am positive that Kareem will be very proud to have such admirable people by his side.

On that note, we’d also like to thank Tom Palmer for alerting others about Kareem whenever the chance arrives.

Good luck with the rally, guys! And let us know how it goes.

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Thanks to Constantino’s great efforts, more and more people are learning about the rally for Kareem in New York, and hopefully the majority of them will attend to make a really important statement.

Kareem on Bwog -

Constantino Diaz-Duran, GS ‘09, alerted us to a rally at the Egyptian Consulate (2nd Avenue between E. 58th and E. 59th) in support of Kareem Amer. Amer is a 22-year-old college student who has been imprisoned for criticizing the government in his blog. He is currently facing up to nine years in prison and is being kept in solitary confinement, and his sentence will be handed down on Thursday. Diaz-Duran can be reached at constantino@c-dd.com. The rally will take place in front of the Consulate this Wednesday at 3:30 PM. Go support free speech and make PrezBo proud.

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If you’re in the area, please consider joining others at 3:30 pm in front of the Egyptian Consulate in New York to show your support for Kareem.

NEW YORK, Jan. 29, 2007 - Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer’s trial is scheduled for this Thursday. An informal group of New York City residents are joining together in solidarity for a peaceful protest of the government of Egypt’s treatment of Kareem, and to plead for all charges against him to be dropped. The protest has been organized for this Wednesday, January 31 at 3:30pm, in front of the Egyptian Consulate in New York.

Kareem has been imprisoned in Alexandria, Egypt, since November, after posting to his website statements calling for equal rights for women and protection of free speech, as well as other statements critical of the Egyptian government. He has been denied bail and faces a long prison sentence if convicted of the charges held against him. The New York group is trying to mobilize the national news media in hopes that increased visibility of Kareem’s circumstances will pressure the Egyptian government to act responsibly.

The Egyptian Consulate in New York is located at 1110 2nd Avenue, between E. 58th and E. 59th.

For more information about Kareem Amer, visit www.freekareem.org, and to sign an online petition to the Egyptian government, visit www.petitiononline.com/kamer .

For more information about the Wednesday rally, or for media inquiries, please contact Constantino Diaz-Duran at constantino@c-dd.com, or Chris Kilmer at kilmer1979@gmail.com

If you have any press contacts, please consider sending this to them as soon as possible.

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There appears to be another Free Kareem petition here. Much thanks to Mohammed Shouman for putting this together, we hope this will make more people aware of Kareem’s situation.

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A very recent article about Kareem on Human Rights Watch -

(Cairo, January 27, 2007) Egyptian authorities should immediately drop all charges filed against a blogger for his online writings and release him without delay, Human Rights Watch said today. The trial began on January 25 of `Abd al-Karim Nabil Suleiman, better known by his pen name Karim Amer, the first Egyptian blogger to be tried for the contents of his blog. He faces up to nine years in prison.

Suleiman, a 22-year-old former student of Islamic jurisprudence at Al-Azhar University, appeared before a public prosecutor on November 7, 2006, following a complaint from the university, to answer charges of spreading information disruptive of public order, incitement to hate Muslims, and insulting the president. He had frequently posted articles criticizing Islam, the authorities at Al-Azhar, and President Hosni Mubarak on his blog. Prosecutors ordered him detained pending investigation and renewed his detention four times before his trial opened at Muharram Bek Court in Alexandria on Thursday. The judge is expected to rule on the case when the court reconvenes on February 1.

Charging someone for the peaceful expression of their views is sadly not new in Egypt, said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. By curbing a blogger’s freedom to post, the government may be trying to close an important space for Egyptians to speak openly about events and issues that worry them.

Plainclothes security agents first arrested Suleiman on October 26, 2005 at his home in Muharram Bek, a district of Alexandria that days earlier had been the site of deadly sectarian riots, and held him for 12 days without charge. Four days earlier, he had posted comments on his blog criticizing the Muslim rioters and Islam. In March 2006, a disciplinary board at Al-Azhar found him guilty of blaspheming Islam and ordered him expelled from the university.

The charges against Suleiman stem from laws that contradict guarantees of free expression under international law. Article 102(bis) of the Penal Code allows for the detention of whoever deliberately diffuses news, information/data, or false or tendentious rumors, or propagates exciting publicity, if this is liable to disturb public security, spread horror among the people, or cause harm or damage to the public interest. Article 176 of the Penal Code allows for the imprisonment of whoever instigates discrimination against one of the people’s sects because of race, origin, language, or belief, if such instigation is liable to disturb public order. Article 179 allows for the detention of whoever affronts the President of the Republic.

Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Egypt became a party in 1982, guarantees the right to freedom of expression, including the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media.

Article 19(3) of the ICCPR allows restriction of expression only in limited circumstances, namely in the interest of respect of the rights or reputations of others or the protection of national security or of public order (ordre public), or of public health or morals. Such restrictions must be necessary. These exceptions are narrowly framed, and the burden of demonstrating their validity rests with the state, which must justify any content ban by showing that restrictions are necessary to achieve a specific and legitimate purpose within one of the enumerated exceptions.

The Egyptian government should immediately drop all charges against Suleiman and release him, Whitson said. Suleiman is guilty of nothing but peacefully exercising his right to free speech. Instead of trying a blogger for exercising his rights to free expression, the government should repeal or amend the laws that abridge those rights.

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Here are the pictures:

This is an update from Dalia Ziada, a blogger and human rights activist working on Kareem’s case:

Kareem Lawyers who are representing him right now in Alexandria told me the following on phone:

- Kareem’s in good spirits due to the media attendance and increasing number of lawyers defending him
- The Lawyers defended him and at the end of their defense asked the judge to adjourn the trial
- The State Security forces surrounded the court room and prevented journalists and cameramen to cover the trial

Here is the weird but shocking part:

- Some lawyer (no body knows who he is) submitted a claim against Kareem and his defense and demanded them to be burdened with fines becuase they defend a secular who insulted Islam. However, Kareem lawyers respond to him. They believe that he might be belonging to some Islamic group or that the State Security Service pushed him to do so for some reason.

More news to come soon.

Best,
Dalia

And another update shortly after the first:

One of the lawyers told me that the trial is adjourned to 1st February 2007, and in 1/2 hr the judge will anoounce this officially and will announce the reason of adjournmant as well.

More updates to come, wait!

Press coverage so far:

Egyptian court refuses to release on bail a blogger accused of insulting Islam:

CAIRO, Egypt — A court Thursday refused to release on bail a writer accused of insulting Islam and causing sectarian strife in postings on his Web journal in Egypt’s first prosecution of blogger. Abdel Kareem Nabil, 22, who has been in detention since his arrest in November, denounced Islamic authorities and criticized President Hosni Mubarak on his Arabic-language blog. He faces up to nine years in prison if convicted. The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights called on human rights groups to “pressure the government to drop charges against (Nabil) as a prisoner of conscience.”

Two U.S. congressmen also expressed deep concern about the arrest of Nabil — who also goes by the blogger name of Kareem Amer — and called for the charges to be dropped. “The Egyptian government’s arrest of Mr. Amer simply for displeasure over writings on the personal Web log raises serious concern about the level of respect for freedoms in Egypt,” Reps. Trent Franks, RAriz., and Barney Frank, D-Mass., wrote to U.S. Ambassador Nabil Fahmy. The Bush administration has not commented on Nabil’s trial, despite its past criticism of the arrests of Egyptian rights activists. In 2005, the Bush administration made Egypt — which Mubarak has ruled unquestioned for a quarter century — the centerpiece of its policy of promoting democratic change in the Arab world.

But Egyptian reformers say Washington has all but dropped its pressure on Mubarak amid a need for his support on Iraq and in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The United States was also alarmed when Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood made big gains in 2005 parliamentary elections and the radical Hamas movement won 2006 Palestinian elections — raising fears that greater democracy would increase fundamentalists’ power, activists say. Nabil, whose trial began Jan. 18, has been charged with inciting sedition, insulting Islam, harming national unity and insulting the president.

In Thursday’s session, his lawyers requested he be released on bail during the trial, but the court rejected the motion, Nabil’s lawyer Ahmed Seif el-Islam said. In his Web log, Nabil was a critic of conservative Muslims and in particularly of al-Azhar University, one of the most prestigious religious institutions in the Sunni Muslim world. Nabil was a law student at al-Azhar, but denounced it as “the university of terrorism,” accusing it of promoting radical ideas and suppressing free thought. Al-Azhar “stuffs its students’ brains and turns them into human beasts … teaching them that there is not place for differences in this life,” he wrote. He was expelled from the university in March. In other posts, Nabil described Mubarak’s regime as a “symbol of dictatorship.”

Check the coverage from Wa7damasrya, who also attended the trial.

bكانت اليوم محاكمة كريم منذ التاسعة صباحا توجهت للمحكمة و بعد نصف ساعة علق المجند الرول و كان إسم كريم أمامه إزدراء الأديان و رقمه 185 جاء صحفيون من جهات مختلفة رويترز و صحف مصرية كالمصري اليوم و بعض الصحفيين الأجانب و من المدونين كان بنهاوي و ساند مانكي و أنا و لم يستطع جار القمر الحضور اليوم مضطرا و جار القمر كان هو و بنهاوي أكثر المدونين متابعة و صبرا منذ البداية و لازالوا
و ما المحامين قكانوا طبعا من مركز هشام مبارك و على راسهم الأستاذ أحمد سيف هذا الرجل الذي أحترمه كثيرا فهو لا يكل و لا يمل من عمله في نصرة المظلومين و الدفاع عن حقوق الأنسان في مصر و قد كان اول الحاضرين اليوم انتظرنا كثيرا و كادوا يمنعونا من دخول القاعة بعد ان منعوا التصوير التلقزيوني او حتى بالكاميرا العادية و كان فريق من قناة دريم موجود و لم يستطع التصوير حضر كريم و لم يراه أحد حيث أدخلوه من الجراج و منه إلى طريق مباشر لقفص الإتهام و منعوا دخولنا القاعة حتى ياتي دور قضية كريم قي الرول
وقفنا قترة طويلة ثم قي حوالي الثانية عشر حان دور كريم فتم ادخالنا بواسطة مقدم شرطة و عندما نادوا على كريم وقفنا جميعا فيبدو أن القاضي لم يكن يتوقع هذا الكم من المهتمين و ما كن منه إلا أن طلب منا الجلوس و تم تأجيل دور كريم ليكون الاخير في الرول دقائق و نادوا على كريم مرة أخرى و ساله القاضي ما أسمك فرد كريم :عبد الكريم نبيل ثم بدأت مرافعة محاميو هشام مبارك و رئيس المركز احمد سيف و دار دفاعهم حول عدم وجود أي مواد قانونية لقضايا النشر على الأنترنت أو التدوين بشكل خاص و ما موقف التدوين في القانون و طلب الأستاذ احمد سيف انتداب احد اساتذة كلية الهندسة جامعة الأسكندرية لتحديد مكان و صاحب موقع إيلاف و هو الموقع الذي قامت النيابة بطبع بعض مقالات كريم به و تقديمها كادلة إتهام و كان طلبا ذكيا من الدفاع حيث انه إذا ثبت عدم وجود الموقع او الخادم الذي يستضيف الموقع بمصر لا يمكن مقاضاة كريم بمصر و بمجرد ان انتهى حديث المحامين وجدنا رجلا ينتفض من مكانه و يرفع يدية متحدثا بصوت عالي و إكتشقنا انه محامي و قد عرف نفسة و قام على الفور برقع قضية “حسبة” ضد كريم!!! و كان الرجل متأثرا و يقول انه من اجل الأسلام و نصرة الأسلام قهو يرقع تلك الدعوة و ذكر الأية الكريمة “انما جزاء الذين يحاربون الله ورسوله ويسعون في الارض فسادا ان يقتلوا او يصلبوا او تقطع ايديهم وارجلهم من خلاف ”
لا ألاي أن كريم يسعى فسادا و ليس هو من يستحق قضية حسبة الفاسدون يعرفهم الجميع و لا يجرؤ احد على محاسبتهم
رفعت الجلسة و خرجنا نتظر قرار المحكمة و في أنتظارنا تحدث معنا بعض الصحفيين الذي حاول بعضهم في أصرار أن يعرف أن كنا نوافق على ما كتبة كريم و كنت احاول ان اشرح لهم اننا حتى إختلافنا مع كريم نحن هنا لأننا نؤمن بحرية الرأي و التعبير و أن الإعتقال و العقاب بهذا الشكر لن يغير شيئا .
اما قرار المحكمة فكان التاجيل ليوم واحد فبراير للبت في الموافقة أو الرفض لطلب الدفاع انتداب استاذ من كلية الهندسة و أما قضية الحسبة فقد أضافت قضية جديدة سوف يحاسب عليها كريم حتى لو أخد براءة من التهم الحالية و قد تصل العقوبه في دعو ى الحسبة لثلاث سنوات
أخذت بعض الصور سانشرها غدا و للأسف لم يكن كريم بها بس بنهاوي عرف يجيب واحدة حصريا بالموبايل
أما كريم فبدى متماسك أقتربنا منه م كان في قثص الإتهام فما كان من سجانيه ألا ان بعدوه داخل القفص و وقفوا امامه يحجبون الرؤية عنه و عنا و لكن بعد قليل عندما ناداه القاضي أستطاع ان يرانا و نراه ان من المهم وجودنا اليوم حتى لا يشعر انه وحده في تلك المهزلة التي تسمى محاكمة و على إيه انا مش فاهمة

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US Congressmen pressure Egyptian authorities to release jailed Alexandrian blogger Amer -

AIRO: Republican and Democratic representatives from the United States Congress have issued a bipartisan letter to the Egyptian government, calling for the immediate release of student blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil Soliman Amer who is currently standing trial for “defaming Islam” on his Internet blog.

Initiated by Congressman Trent Franks (R) and Congressman Barney Frank (D) and addressed to Egypt’s Ambassador Nabil Fahmy in Washington, the letter urges the government to “live up to its own stated values of democratic civil rights and to immediately release Mr. Amer from prison and drop all charges against him”.

Meanwhile, Amer, 22, appeared at the Moharram Beik Court in Alexandria on Thursday to stand for the first session of his trial which had been postponed from Jan. 17.

A former student of Al-Azhar University is currently detained in Al-Hadra prison in Alexandria for “spreading data and malicious rumors that disrupt public security”; “defaming the president of Egypt”; “incitement to overthrow the regime upon hatred and contempt”; and “incitement to hate ‘Islam’ “.

Accused of railing against Islam, he was expelled from the University in March 2006 and reportedly questioned by Al-Azhar professors before he was arrested by state authorities.

“Kareem was in very good spirits today due to the large number of supporters and media representatives who came to Alexandria to attend his trial,” Amer’s lawyer, Rawda Ahmed told The Daily Star Egypt.

However, journalists and photographers were reportedly prohibited by state security to enter the courtroom.

Upon request from the defense, the trial has been adjourned and will continue on Feb. 1.

In another development, an unidentified lawyer reportedly submitted a claim against Amer’s defense on Thursday, demanding they pay penalty fines for “defending a secularist who has insulted the Islamic faith”.

“The defense believes that state security might have pressured the lawyer to submit the claim or that the man might be a member of a radical religious group,” Dalia Ziada from the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information told The Daily Star Egypt.

If convicted, the former Al-Azhar University student could face up to nine years in prison.

“The fact that American authorities are showing such strong interest in Amer will be of great influence in this disturbing case. Our lawyers who represent Amer will bring translated copies of the letter to court today,” Gamal Eid, Executive Director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, told The Daily Star Egypt.

Global rights watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) also welcomed the American initiative Wednesday.

“This is a good development … The charges on which Amer is held completely violate human rights law. Amer should be released immediately and the unconstitutional charges against him should be dropped,” Elijah Zarwan from HRW’s Middle East Division told The Daily Star Egypt.

The letter from the Congressmen also said Amer’s arrest indicated that respect for basic freedoms in Egypt were threatened.

According to Atef Ghamry, the former chief of Al-Ahram’s bureau in Washington and an expert in American affairs, the recent developments in the Amer case reinforce his belief that “calls for democracy in the Middle East are reemerging after a period when they were consistently downplayed.”

“The aim of introducing democracy in the Middle East was initially part of the Bush administration’s plan to change the Arab world internally. However, they had a change of heart after the Hamas victory in the Palestinian elections. They did not want regimes coming into power in the Middle East that were not friendly to US interests,” Ghamry told The Daily Star Egypt.

Ghamry added, however, that there are signs from the US Congress that this will change.

“In the past two years, there have been many discussions, especially by liberals, over what really poses a threat to American national security,” he said.

In the meantime, Egypt’s growing community of bloggers maintain a positive attitude towards the American initiative, but still pose skepticism to whether or not Amer will be released.

“I am not too optimistic about this case. In my opinion, Amer should leave the country and try to seek asylum in either Europe or the US as soon as possible. He has no future in this country now. The authorities will destroy his life whether he is released from prison or not,” Hossam El-Hamalawy, blog moderator of www.arabawy.net told The Daily Star Egypt.

Wael Abbas, a blogger and photojournalist, said that while it helps to put pressure on the Egyptian authorities from outside, the real force must come from within.

“It is great that the American rival political parties are joining forces to show their support in this deeply flawed case, but there has to be more advocacy from within Egypt itself. Egyptian civil rights organizations must become more active in their outreach efforts,” Abbas said.

Hafez Abu Seada who is providing Amer with legal experts from his NGO the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR), emphasized the need for the Egyptian authorities to act in accordance with international human rights law.

“Regardless of whether Amer’s writings contain disturbing content or not, Egypt must respect its commitment to freedom of expression for its citizens, as agreed upon in the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights, of which Egypt is a signatory,” Abu Seada told The Daily Star Egypt.

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Joint Letter Urges Egyptian Government to Release Young Web-blogger Imprisoned for Criticizing Radical Islam -

January 24, 2007 - Congressmen Trent Franks (R-AZ) and Barney Frank (D-MA) today wrote Egyptian Ambassador Nabil Fahmy regarding the arrest and imprisonment of Abdelkareem Nabil Soliman Amer, a 22-year-old resident of Alexandria, Egypt. Mr. Amer criticized the radical Islam expressed by his professors at Al Azhar University, where he was a law student, as well as in society more generally in a personal weblog. Before his arrest, he was kicked out of Al Azhar for his opinions.

Franks said, Democracies must allow for freedom of speech and certainly for the tolerance of diverse religious beliefs. I laud Mr. Amer’s recognition that violence in the name of religion is unacceptable. I urge the Egyptian government to free Mr. Amer and to protect its citizens from persecution.

According to reports, Mr. Amer is the first blogger the Egyptian government has put on trial for his writings. While he faces up to nine years in prison, other bloggers have been released without charges; however, unlike the other detained bloggers who concentrated on politics, Mr. Amer wrote often on religion. In late 2005, Mr. Amer was briefly detained after posting a commentary on riots in which angry Muslim worshippers attacked a Coptic Christian church over a play put on by Christians deemed offensive to Islam.

Congressman Franks is serving his third term in the U.S. House of Representatives, is a member of the Committee on Armed Services, Committee on the Judiciary, is Ranking Member on the Constitution Subcommittee, and is a co-founder of the Task Force on International Religious Freedom (TIRF).

Link to the above press release.

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US Congressmen Issue Demand to Release Abdel Kareem Soliman, Who Faces Nine Years in Jail for Blogposts on Egyptian Politics, Religious Tensions, and Women’s Rights

CAIRO – With Egyptian student Abdel Kareem Soliman about to go on trial for alleged crimes committed on his weblog, an international coalition of bloggers, activists, and political leaders is demanding respect for free expression in Egypt.

The Middle East Interfaith Blogger Network (www.mefaith.com), an alliance of diverse bloggers, is calling upon Egyptian authorities to drop charges against Soliman, who currently faces up to nine years in jail. His trial begins on Thursday.

“Kareem spoke his mind on his blog and did not hide his identity,” said Bahraini blogger Esra’a Al-Shafei, co-founder of the Interfaith Network. “Even though he was critical of Islam, I and the coalition’s other Muslim members respect his right to free speech. Jailing him for expressing his ‘secular’ views is a sign of fear, not the action of an open society.”

Based solely on his blogposts, Soliman is charged with the alleged crimes of “defaming Egypt’s President,” “incitement to hate Islam,” and “highlighting inappropriate aspects that harm the reputation of Egypt.”

But members of the Interfaith Blogger Network argue that the decision to detain Soliman for the past 10 weeks without trial has severely harmed Egypt’s international reputation.

“Many international newspapers have all covered Kareem’s case,” noted network member Dalia Ziada in Cairo. “Millions of people are now aware that Egyptian authorities target bloggers simply for speaking their minds.” Over 2,000 people from around the world have signed the network’s petition demanding Kareem’s release.

In a dramatic development, members of Congress have today taken up Soliman’s case. Congressmen Trent Franks (R-AZ) and Barney Frank (D-MA) sent a letter to Egyptian Ambassador Nabil Fahmy demanding Soliman’s release and calling upon Egypt to respect freedom of expression or freedom of conscience.

Their letter states that the decision to arrest Soliman “simply for displeasure over writings on his personal weblog raises serious concern about the level of respect for these
freedoms in Egypt.”

Egyptian bloggers plan to pack the courthouse in Alexandria, Egypt, on Thursday, and millions of supporters around the world will be following the case via blogposts.

“We hope he will be acquitted,” remarked Al-Shafei, “But we are ready to act if he is convicted.”

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Two congressmen - one a very conservative Republican and one a very liberal Democrat - have co-signed a letter to Nabil Fahmy, Egypt’s Ambassador to the US. The letter demands Kareem’s release.

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