Saro Tribastone was kind enough to start a MySpace page for Kareem in order to help spread the word about his case. Thanks!

An op-ed about Kareem for Pajamas Media, I would like to thank Roger for publishing it:

Prisoner of His Words -

Abdelkareem Soliman, also known online as Kareem Amer, is a soft-spoken 22 year-old Egyptian blogger whose basic personal rights have been abused by the Egyptian government. His only “crime” was to publish critical blogposts on the Internet. Due to the “secular” views expressed on his blog, he was expelled from Al-Azhar University and turned over the police prosecutor in Alexandria, Egypt.

Blogging has become an integral part of today’s youth culture around the world. For any young person with Internet access, maintaining a blog is a way to get your name and what you represent out to the global public. For young Middle Easterners, blogs are a lifeline: they let a person safely reveal himself or herself from behind a screen to anyone who would come clicking through.

But, what if these electronic confessions instead became a way for repressive governments to track and arrest you? Rather than having technology set people free, could Orwell’s predictions about state monitoring instead come true? For one Egyptian blogger, 1984’s cautionary tale about a world without rights or privacy has become the very world we live in today.

Aside from his political and religious criticism, Kareem was known for being a staunch defender of women’s rights in the region. He also stood out because he actually revealed his identity, rather than hide behind the mask of anonymity. His site on Blogger listed his name, photograph, and even a phone number – quite a daring act in such an intellectually sheltered society.

Since early November, when Kareem was arrested for the second time, he has been locked away without trial. He has been accused of various crimes, all of which were based solely on his blog entries. These include defaming Egypt’s president and tarnishing the reputation of Egypt. The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information has stated several times that Kareem’s safety and life is at stake, as he is not fit to serve much time in prison.

On Thursday he at last goes on trial and now faces up to 9 years in prison – simply for speaking his mind on his blog. Legal experts in Egypt expect he will receive – at a minimum – a three-year sentence.

Kareem’s detention without trial and ominous fate are threat to anyone in the Middle East who values freedom of expression. For young people in the Arab world, the message is clear. Exercising basic human rights means risking your life and your freedom. With the US government silent (aside from a few Congressional leaders who have protest Kareem’s arrest to the Egyptian government) and the Egyptian regime increasingly assertive, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Arab youth to maintain hope in civil rights in the Middle East.

Nonetheless, many young activists from across the region have united in support of Kareem. And we have done this despite the fact that he harshly criticized our Muslim faith. The Free Kareem campaign consists of many young Muslims, including his lawyers, who not only accept criticism but feel the need to defend the rights of people to freely express such criticism, as it is our only path to a stable democracy.

If there is one positive development to emerge from the prosecution and persecution of Kareem, it is that young Muslim bloggers in the Middle East have sent a message about promoting freedom of expression in our turbulent region.

It would be exceptionally helpful for fellow Americans to join our Free Kareem campaign in support of a young and harmless Middle Eastern blogger. His trial begins (and could end) on Thursday (January 25). If we can stand together – Americans, Middle Easterners, and people of all backgrounds – in support of free expression, we just might be able to hold back the forces of repression.

Al-Shafei, a blogger from Bahrain, runs FreeKareem.org. She is the co-founder of Mideast Youth and the Middle East Interfaith Blogger Network.

Picture and brief coverage of Kareem on the AP wire can be located here.

More coveage from international news services -

AP: Accused Egyptian blogger stands trial
CNews: Egyptian blogger on trial
New York Times : Egypt: Blogger Goes on Trial

More info on Freedom for Egyptians.

Please watch this video about Kareem, of people in the U.S making efforts to free him -

Special thanks go to Tom Palmer and Fadi.

Kareem’s trial was reported early today in the Guardian -

Accused Egyptian Blogger Stands Trial

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - An Egyptian blogger went on trial Thursday on charges of insulting Islam and causing sectarian strife with his Internet writings. Egypt’s first prosecution of a blogger came as Washington has backed away from pressuring its Mideast ally to improve its human rights record and bring democratic reform.

Abdel Kareem Nabil often denounced Islamic authorities and criticized Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on his Arabic-language blog. He has been in detention since November and faces up to nine years in prison if convicted.

Egypt has arrested a string of pro-democracy bloggers over the past year, sparking condemnation from human rights groups.

Nabil’s trial in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria began two days after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Mubarak, seeking support for a new American strategy on calming violence in Iraq.

But unlike past visits to Egypt when she pressed demands for greater democracy, Rice made no reference to reform, instead praising the two countries’ “important strategic relationship - one that we value greatly.”

In 2005, the Bush administration made Egypt - which Mubarak has ruled unquestioned for a quarter century - the centerpiece of what it called a policy priority of promoting democratic change in the Arab world.

But Egyptian reformists say Washington has all but dropped its pressure on Mubarak amid the Bush administration’s need for support on Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The United States was also spooked 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.

“America’s stance is very clear. It is so afraid after the victories of Hamas in Palestine and the Brotherhood in Egypt,” said Ahmed Seif al-Islam, a member of one of three Egyptian rights group backing Nabil in his case.

The United States “has not only lifted its hand and stopped pressure. We are in the phase of (the U.S.) hinting to government they can take repressive measures for the sake of stability,” he said.

In Thursday’s court session, Nabil was charged with inciting sedition, insulting Islam, harming national unity and insulting the president, a court official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of court rules.

Defense attorneys asked for time to review the indictment and the trial was adjourned until Jan. 25.

His lawyer, Radwa Sayed Ahmed, said Nabil had been held in solitary confinement, forbidden visits from his family and lawyers. In court Thursday, “he didn’t look good,” she told the Associated Press from Alexandria.

Nabil is the first blogger Egypt has put on trial for his writings. Other bloggers have been released without charges. But unlike the other detained bloggers, who concentrated on politics, Nabil wrote often on religion - and Seif al-Islam said the government was likely prosecuting him as part of its “competition with the Muslim Brotherhood to show its Islamic credentials.”

In his blog - where he uses the name Kareem Amer - Nabil was a fierce critic of conservative Muslims and in particularly of al-Azhar, one of the most prestigious religious institutions in the Sunni Muslim world.

Nabil was a law student at al-Azhar University, 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 no place for differences in this life,” he wrote.

He was thrown out of the university in March, and in his last blog entry before his arrest blamed al-Azhar for pushing the government to investigate him.

In other postings, Nabil described Mubarak’s regime as a “symbol of dictatorship.”

Nabil was briefly detained in late 2005 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.

“Muslims revealed their true ugly face and appeared to all the world that they are full of brutality, barbarism and inhumanity,” Nabil said of the October 2005 riots.

Blogging took off in Egypt in 2004, at a time when domestic political activists and the U.S. were stepping up calls for political reform.

Last year, police arrested Alaa Abdel-Fattah, whose blog helped organize anti-government protests, and held him for six weeks before releasing him in June. Another blogger, Mohammed el-Sharkawi, was arrested during a demonstration in May and allegedly sexually tortured in detention before his release.

Amnesty International and media watchdog Reporters Without Borders have criticized the arrests as restricting freedom of expression. The Paris-based media watchdog has included Egypt in “Enemies of the Internet,” a report issued in November.

To find the absolute latest on Kareem’s case please do read Mahmoud’s entry here (who was also able to get a few pictures of Kareem from his phone which I included in the previous entry) and Jarelkamar’s entries here. They were both present at the trial along with 3 other lawyers.

Kareem may face up to 9 years in prison. This is indeed a case worth fighting for, for the sake of freedom of expression. Kareem does not deserve this.

News from Dalia of HRINFO -

I have just learnt from HRinfo lawyer who is representing Kareem with other two lawyers fro Hisham Mubark Center for Law and Association for Human Rights Legal Aid, that:

-The trial is postponed to 25 January upon the demand of defence for reviewing the file.
-Kareem is is detained in a solitary jail and he is prevented from seeing his family and they give him only one meal each two days.
-Kareem came to court in prisoner’s suit and he was accompanied by soldiers from the State Security Service who prevented him from talking to his lawyers.

I am so sorry to tell you that Kareem is suffering horrible and inhuman imprisonment circumstances.

Here are the photos -

Daily Star Egypt features this article about a protest for Kareem on its front page -

CAIRO: A rally was held Friday in front of the Egyptian embassy in Washington DC to call for the release of blogger Abdel Karim Soliman Amer, who has been detained by security forces since November.

Organized by a group called the DC Coalition for Blog Freedom, the rally urged the Egyptian government release Alexandria native Amer and protects his right to free speech.

A statement by the group said “Because of the urgency of his plight, DC-area residents of diverse backgrounds are staging a peaceful rally in front of the Egyptian Embassy’s cultural affairs branch in DuPont Circle to defend Amer’s right to blog freely and to call for his immediate release from jail.”

Although the protestors presented a petition to an embassy official who came out to meet them, when The Daily Star Egypt contacted the Foreign Ministry there appeared to be no plans to take any further steps concerning the matter.

Amer, 22, was a student of Al Azhar University, but was expelled last March and then arrested on Nov. 7 for writings on his internet blog, where he allegedly criticized religion.

He is currently detained in Al-Hadra prison in Alexandria on charges of having defamed the Egyptian government, “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’ and breach of the public peace standards.”

Local activists and human rights organizations have previously told The Daily Star Egypt that bloggers who cover religious or sectarian issues are more likely to be targeted for arrest.

In a press release issued on Nov. 11, the organizations called upon the Egyptian government to immediately release Amer.

“The arbitrary accusations against Karim Amer indicate the authorities’ inclination to detain Kareem simply for expressing views contradictory to theirs. The public prosecutor told Kareem that if he did not abandon his views, even though personal, he may be imprisoned,” representatives from the organizations argue.

According to Dalia Ziada from the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, the investigator told Amer that “he should reconsider his secular opinions and change his mind in order to be able to get out of jail. When Karim insisted on his right to freedom of expression, the investigator ordered his re-detainment for another 15 days with the hope that the stay in prison might push Karim to change his mind.”

The Daily Star Egypt had previously attempted to contact the Ministry of Interior concerning the status of Amer. Several faxes of queries have not been answered and a ministry official who answered a request for a phone interview declined to comment.

You can read the details on Jarelkamar’s blog here.

From 3arabawy’s blog:

Egyptian blogger Kareem, who’s been in police custody for two months pending investigation, will show up in Moharram Beik Court Thursday 18 January in Alexandria to face charges that include: posting articles on the internet deemed “insulting” to the president and the Islamic faith.

[Above: Photo of Kareem taken on November 8, 2006. Kareem had been detained for four days pending investigations. That day was his first time before the judge. His detention was renewed for another 15 days then. You can read about it here. This pic was taken by blogger Mahmoud el-Banhawy with his mobile phone camera. Kareem was inside the court cell waiting for his judge to arrive.]

For those religious conservatives cheering Kareem’s arrest, and his expulsion from Al-Azhar University for his “anti-Islamic views”… The regime that detained and put Kareem on trial, is the same regime that kidnapped 180 Muslim Brotherhood students from Al-Azhar dorms and has Khairat el-Shatter slowly dying in prison… is the same regime that denies Copts equal treatment as citizens of this country… is the same regime that sodomizes leftists and ordinary citizens… is the same regime that intimidates workers on strikes… is the same regime that tortured and killed the peasants of Sarando…

Wake up! It’s not about liking Kareem’s ideas or not… You cheer Kareem’s persecution today, your turn is coming tomorrow…

Please keep your hopes and prayers with Kareem.