In addition to her wonderful article on the Daily News of Los Angeles today, nation/world news columnist Bridget Johnson lists several suggestions on how you can help Kareem, and publishes an open letter to the Egyptian Ambassador to the US:

Suggestions:

• Visit FreeKareem.org. Download the image on the rail and link to the campaign off your own blog or Web site. (As a testament to the thirst for free speech, you’ll see in this post that the creators of the campaign are Muslims who disagreed with what Kareem wrote.)

• Sign the petition for Kareem’s release.

• Sign a petition in Arabic!

• Reporters Without Borders states that Egypt is bucking to host a stage of the United Nations-sponsored Internet Governance Forum in 2009 (ironically, the country is on the group’s list of 13 Internet enemies). Lobby against Egypt’s inclusion in this event by contacting Nitin Desai, the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for Internet Governance, at igf@unog.ch. (Mailing address and phone/fax numbers here.)

• Contact the Egyptian Embassy in D.C. to lobby for Kareem: embassy@egyptembdc.org; (202) 895 5400.

• Lobby the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The AP reported that “seconds after he was loaded into the truck and the door closed, an Associated Press reporter heard the sound of a slap from inside the vehicle and a shriek of pain from Nabil.” So use the Human Rights Commission address reserved for urgent matters: tb-petitions@ohchr.org.

Open Letter to Egyptian Ambassador: C’mon, Ambassador, help Kareem!

Ambassador Fahmy,

It is said that Egypt is the cradle of civilization. However, as a young blogger has just been imprisoned in Alexandria for exercising his God-given right of free expression, the world is looking on and wondering just how civilized Egypt, circa 2007, is.

Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman, better known by his Internet pseudonym Kareem Amer, simply did what millions of bloggers around the world do every day: Tell us what they see in their corner of the globe. As every man and woman is unique, our interpretations of and opinions on our observations vary widely. Where one person sees salvation, another may see oppression; where one sees goodness, another may see deception. These opinions that are as different as night and day flood the World Wide Web by the minute, weaving a rich tapestry of expression that comprises the face of humanity.

The crimes for which Kareem sits in prison are insulting Islam and insulting President Hosni Mubarek. On his blog, Kareem expressed his wish to become a human-rights lawyer and help Muslim and Arab women battle discrimination. He also denounced what he saw as extremism at his university, opposed what he saw as political repression and decried violence against Coptic Christians. For this, his family has disowned him and his father sought to have him punished under Sharia law.

Let me bring your attention to something else of which the world is standing up and taking notice: The grass-roots coalition to free Kareem consists of many Muslims who disapprove or are even disgusted by the writings of Kareem, but believe so strongly in the inherent right to free expression that they have vociferously taken up the cause. As Voltaire wrote in a 1770 letter, “I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write.”

Egypt should be proud to call such courageous and principled young people its own. Unfortunately, bloggers there must now have to live in fear of facing the same fate as Kareem. You can show the world that Egypt is a modern society where no writer has to live in fear by freeing Kareem now. All the world currently sees is a climate of extremism, where a prosecutor tells the Associated Press that he is “on a jihad” to punish this young man as harshly as possible. You can show the world that instead Egypt will embrace moderation and mercy by telling a young man that he will not have to sit in a cell for four years on account of his beliefs.

By letting Kareem go and vowing to punish no more bloggers on such charges, you will show the world that Egypt still can be the cradle of civilized society.

Thank you for your consideration of this request to work for the pardon of Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman.

Thank you, Bridget Johnson, for helping Kareem and all those who yearn to speak their minds but cannot.

Share This