Originally published at the Tharwa Community:

The Tharwa Community strongly denounces the arrest of Egyptian blogger Abdel Karim Suliman Amer, known as “Kareem Amer,” for expressing secular opinions on his blog. Kareem, a former student at Al-Azhar University, was illegally arrested in October 2005 by security forces due to opinions he expressed online regarding the sectarian violence in Alexandria that year.Egyptianblogger After his arrest and release, Al-Azhar Univeristy dismissed Kareem and filed a communiqué with the Office of the Public Prosecutor against Kareem. Despite the arguments of Kareem and a human rights lawyer from the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information who was representing him, the prosecutor decided to detain Kareem again on November 6 for four days, on a renewable basis, pending an investigation.

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 10, 1948, states:

“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

The Tharwa Community fully supports Kareem’s right to free speech, as we stand by all those brave enough to express their views, however controversial, in repressive societies.

We formally sponsor the petition drafted by the Hands Across the Mideast Support Alliance (HAMSA) to release Kareem, and we ask all of our readers to express their solidarity with Kareem by signing this important document. We also encourage you to visit www.freekareem.org for more information on this matter.