Kareem’s latest letter from prison was published a few days ago in Arabic here, and now Dalia Ziada provides an English translation for the international readers:

“I am concerned that others may stop expressing themselves through blogging in fear of facing the same destiny of mine. I want to clarify that my situation is so special. I was writing with my real name. I refused the idea of hiding my real identity with a pseudonym and preferred to be frank with my self in everything whatever the consequences are. I have some reasons for this; the most important is that we cannot change our society according to our beliefs while covered and frightened.

Criminals, holders of retarded thoughts, and extremists are not ashamed or afraid of talking openly about their ideas. They do not hide behind masks. It is better for us then not to panic and speak plainly, even if guns are pointed to our heads. Others do not hesitate to commit suicide and bomb themselves in favor of their beliefs… Not everyone is committed to agree with my point of view. When people use nicknames, no one will pursuit them because they are too stupid to use information technology. If I did not confess that I am the writer of the articles that put me to trial, they could not do any thing for me. Furthermore, I was a student of Al-Azhar University, which motivated the whole case against me. Not all those who write belong to Al-Azhar like me. There are some more reasons that I do not need to mention now. I do not want to be a reason for people to be afraid of facing the same fate. Certainly, other writers did not face the same fate although they provide writings that are more daring than mine are.”

Please consider joining our letter campaign for Kareem so you can help by interacting with him!

We’d like to announce a new letter campaign for Kareem where supporters will be given the opportunity to directly connect with him. Some of you already have, and have received appreciative responses from Kareem, which is great! But now it’s time for us to make sure that Kareem stays in people’s minds. His most recent letter proved that he is in need of interaction, especially with his worldwide supporters. You are very important to him, and you are the only ones who can truly help him, so you need to take this chance and make an even bigger difference in his life. Get to know him better, and have him know who is behind all this support!

Here is how the campaign will work:

On the 15th of each month, we will all be uniting worldwide in writing supportive letters for Kareem. You will be able to do this in two ways:

- For those with time restrictions, simply contact us with your full name, message to Kareem, and address. We’ll mail it for you. Be sure that the message is long enough for us to mail – ideally it would be no less than 5-7 sentences.

- Send a letter yourself to Kareem using this address.

The latter option increases the chances of Kareem responding to you personally. We leave the decision up to you.

You may ask yourself, “why should I bother doing this?” This is so Kareem feels safe, cared for and loved. He is, after all, an innocent young man whose only crime is bravery and free speech. He deserves and needs our support. Take a few minutes, write a letter, it doesn’t have to be lengthy! Just a supportive pat in the back to encourage him to stay strong.

To help us spread the word about this letter campaign to Kareem, please make a post and announce it on the 15th of each month, starting on this coming 15th of July. Include a copy of your own letter to Kareem for others to see, hopefully your readers will be inspired enough to do the same.

Copy/paste the code here to add this to your blog!

General FAQ about letters:

Q: What language shall I write in?
A: English and Arabic. Kareem understands and writes in both, his English is not fluent but easily understood.

Q: I sent Kareem a letter and he didn’t reply, why not?
A: We can never be sure whether or not Kareem receives some of the letters. Sometimes he confirms it by sending a letter back, other times he can’t send his reply. It’s not easy for a prisoner to have access to the outside, especially foreign, world. It’s very much worth sending him a letter, however. For his sake, please don’t give up on contacting him.

Q: What is Kareem’s address?
A: It’s posted here, and also on our “Write to Kareem!” page. Note: If you saved an earlier version of the address, it has been changed. Double check and make sure you are sending it to the recently updated address instead.

Thanks so much for those willing to do this! You have no idea how much you will be helping Kareem.

Get started now! Grab a banner, write a letter, spread the word, help Kareem, help free speech!

Kareem needs our support and encouragement. He would like to be given the opportunity to interact with his supporters. We strongly encourage you to send a letter to him at the address posted here, until we announce a letter campaign in the near future.

Shahi (blogging as Wa7damasrya) includes in her blog the latest letter she received from Kareem. We will offer a translation here as soon as possible. In the meantime, if you haven’t already, you can read about her recent visit to Kareem here.

To those who contacted us claiming that we are representatives or supporters of Faith Freedom, you are mistaken. We are neither.

We realize that Faith Freedom made the following coverage:

Egyptian Blogger Arrested, Expelled From Al Azhar For Exposing The Truth

Dahsyat: Siswa Al Azhar Mengutuk Islam! (Indonesian)

The Jailing Of Abdel Kareem, Egyptian Blogger

Nine Years For Nothing: Egyptian Blogger Nabil Soliman Goes on Trial

Kareem Amer (forum post)

There Is No Deity but the Human Being (featuring the campaign’s translation of his post)

This support for Kareem is not linked to us in any way. They made no contributions whatsoever to this campaign.

This support for Kareem is also aimed not at the promotion of free speech, but rather the destruction of Islam and general disrespect of Muslims, something that we do not support in this campaign. Thus we are not associated with Faith Freedom; and would not like to be. Thank you for understanding.

To repeat ourselves:

The creators and main supporters of the Free Kareem Coalition are Muslim, and we are doing this despite what Kareem said about our religion. Free speech doesn’t mean “speech that you approve of.” It includes criticism.

You may be disgusted at what he said, even angered. That’s okay, so are we! But we will defend with all our might his right to express such opinions, because it is his basic, inalienable human right. We stand by and fully support Kareem through these difficult times and will continue working on this campaign until he is freed.

Instead of attacking us for either reasons:
1) For being Muslim and embracing Islam
2) For supporting Kareem who is against the teachings of Islam

Please be respectful of what we are trying to do here regardless of your backgrounds and biases. We’re doing it in the name of freedom and free speech, not to enforce any ideologies or beliefs.