Following up on our previous article, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) just published a press release [Arabic] noting that blogger Hossam el-Hendy is freed.
Kareem, however, remains in prison and is undergoing torture. Please help by sending him a letter of support, and see our ‘what you can do’ page for more information on how you can help!
RSF notes in an urgent press release:
Journalists and bloggers arrested and censored
Reporters Without Borders today strongly condemned the arrest of journalist Hossam el-Hendy at Helwan University, south of Cairo, as “an attempt to intimate all bloggers in Egypt” after officials there reported him to police for taking photos and sending messages about a demonstration on his mobile phone.
El-Hendy, 22, who works for the daily paper Al-Dustour and the website Eshreen (www.20at.com), was covering a 28 November protest that erupted when a speaker at a university conference on information technology said it was important to regulate online activity in Egypt.
The press freedom organisation also deplored the suspension on 21 November of the YouTube account of journalist and blogger Wael Abbas, who had posted scenes of police brutality towards suspects, and of his Yahoo! E-mail account on 29 November.
“Abbas is seen by the country’s bloggers as a key figure who alerts Egyptians to acts of torture,” it said. “If some of his clips are too shocking, YouTube can ask him to remove them, but suspending his account is excessive.” Abbas has suggested a parallel event to the Cairo Film Festival that would award a “golden whip” to the video of the worst example of police torture.
Egypt is on the Reporters Without Borders list of “enemies of Internet freedom.” One blogger, Kareem Amer, 22, is in prison for posting material online and has become a symbol of repression towards the country’s bloggers.
Also relevant:
‘Golden Whip’ for best Egypt torture video
Today, authors of the IUF Berlin blog write about the rally they held in November 9 in front of the Egyptian Embassy in Berlin:
IUF-berlin organized the Berlin rally, one of many international rallies in support of Kareem Amer an Egyptian blogger who has been imprisoned for expressing his opinions.
the rally was held in front of the Egyptian embassy in Berlin on stauffenberg straße, and wolfgang and i were able to speak with the ambassador and hand over a petition signed by those in attendance at the rally.
for more information about the rallies held around the world and the continuing struggle to help free Kareem and stand in defense of the freedom of speech, see the Free Kareem website.
We would like to take this opportunity to once again thank the great folks at IUF Berlin for a successful and much needed rally.
Kareem’s alarming case continues to be noted by the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX).
In their latest press release:
Egyptian bloggers, often at the forefront of exposing human rights abuses, are planning an online festival of torture videos to run alongside the 31st Cairo Film Festival, from 27 November to 7 December.
According to the “Middle East Times”, the parallel festival is the invention of a blogger named Walid, and will feature “controversial acts of torture allegedly committed by the security authorities.” Prizes, including a “Golden Whip”, will be awarded to the best entrants.
Egypt’s bloggers have exposed many incidents of police torture. In a rare case of security forces being sentenced for abusing detainees, two policemen got three years in jail for torturing a man in their custody earlier this month. Footage of the abuse filmed with a mobile phone was widely distributed on YouTube and sparked nationwide and international outrage.
But bloggers who are critical of the government can also find themselves as victims. Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer, who is serving a four-year jail term for insulting Islam and President Hosni Mubarak, has recently been tortured while in custody, reports the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRInfo). Amer, the first blogger to stand trial in Egypt for his Internet postings, has three more years left in his sentence.
From the video’s description:
We also feature Kareem Amer who on the first anniversary of his imprisonment in an Egyptian jail [yes, he had been imprisoned for blogging - defaming religion and the president] had people all over the world demonstrating for his release – vive la revolucion – and in an attempt to forever stop his blogging activities and to set an example to others, allegedly beat him on the same day. This abuse from a country that purports to value democratic principles such as freedom of the press.
Previously on Menassat:
- Until you change your mind
- Blogging all the way to jail
This is a question that 2Hotel9 is asking on the blog, “Say Anything” -
How many staunch supporters of the right of all peoples to freedom of speech/expression of a political nature know the name Abdel Karim Suleiman? Perhaps they know him as Karim Amer? Hard to say, since there is an effective silence over this individual’s case, and his treatment since being imprisoned in Burj al-Arab prison in Egypt.
Many of the members at MidEast Youth are involved in efforts to bring the world’s attention to this young man’s plight. They are not being assisted by the global media community. A group who should be at the forefront of this.
There is an organized effort online, in America, Europe and the Mideast, to get this issue brought to the fore. Such sites as this one, and Mideast Youth are spreading the word. Others, such as Committee to Protect Journalists, Zimbio, Freedom for Egypt, and the Sandmonkey are also working to bring the light of day to this.
So, why are CNN, FOX (a complete blank), Al Jazeera, AsiaTimes, MSNBC, et al, so bereft of even a reference to this?
Why the ringing silence from our political chattering class, on all sides, concerning the continued suppression of people’s right to speak their minds?
And this is not the only case. The self-proclaimed Defenders of All are stridently clamoring about America’s military and intel agencies interrogating and imprisoning terrorists, treating us all to a continual wailing&gnashing of teeth in defense of known murderers. And yet not a word, not one, about the violent suppression by our enemies AND allies of the voices calling for freedom to live their own lives.
Why the silence? Indeed.
Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports:
Detainees go on hunger strike in Egyptian prison:
Cairo – A group of 33 detained Egyptians held in the notorious Burj al-Arab prison, more than 320 kilometres north-west of Cairo, have gone on a hunger strike to protest of their mistreatment, according to local rights groups. The detainees are mistreated, terrorized by trained dogs and banned from health care, the Cairo-based Egyptian Organization for Human Rights claimed in a report released Tuesday.
Some of the detainees belong to the banned Muslim Brotherhood movement, a conservative Islamic group at loggerheads with the ruling regime.
Coinciding with this report is another by the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders about Burj al-Arab inmate Abdel-Karim Suleiman, a blogger better known by the alias Karim Amer. The report, also published Tuesday, voiced concern about Amer’s health.
Amer’s lawyers had filed a complaint on Monday accusing a prison official “of conspiring to have him mistreated and holding him in solitary confinement.”
Amer was jailed for slamming the ruling regime and lashing out at religious authorities. He was charged with “inciting hatred of Islam” and insulting the head of the state in February.
Amer wrote several letters from prison in which he mentioned being subjected to “physical and moral” torture, according to the report, in addition to being “handcuffed and beaten and then thrown into an isolation cell, where he was given hardly any food or water.”
“I have been subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment,” read one of his letters.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also voice their concern for Kareem in a recent article:
“We are shocked by reports that our colleague was brutally assaulted and demand that Egyptian authorities investigate this troubling incident and ensure his safety,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “These allegations are all the more alarming given that Abdel Karim Suleiman should not be in prison in the first place. We once again call on Egyptian authorities to end his unjust imprisonment.”
Read the rest of the article here.
ANSAmed reports, via an RSF press release:
CAIRO, NOVEMBER 20 – A young Egyptian sentenced to four years of imprisonment for an offence against Islam and against President Hosni Mubarak in his blog has been beaten in prison and put into an isolated cell, the organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF) announced today.
Abdel Karim Suleiman, a former law student, became in February this year the first case of a sentence in Egypt for having expressed on the Internet his opinions in eight articles written since 2004. RSF said that Suleiman had written in a letter from the prison that he was arrested, beaten and put into an isolated cell with scarce food and water. “I was subjected to a crude, non-humane and degrading treatment,” he denounced in a letter cited by the Paris-based organisation. RSF requested the release of Suleiman, known also as Kareem Amer, detained in the prison of Borg el Arab, near Alexandria. Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, which represents Suleiman, affirms in a declaration that a prison guard and another prisoner have beaten the young person, knocking one of his teeth out. In one of the incriminated articles, Suleiman, a moderate Muslim, accused Azhar, the highest instance in Sunni Islam, of propagating extremism. Internet is one of the few means to express disagreement in Egypt, where almost all information organs are controlled by the Government and under a constant threat of repressions. Numerous journalists are on trial for having “offended” Mubarak, under poor health conditions, according to rumours. (ANSAmed).
Reported today and featured on Reuters:
CAIRO, Nov 20 (Reuters) – An Egyptian blogger serving a 4-year jail term for insulting Islam and President Hosni Mubarak has been beaten in prison and sent to an isolation cell, rights groups said on Tuesday.
Abdel Karim Suleiman, a former law student convicted in connection with eight articles he wrote since 2004, was the first blogger to stand trial in Egypt for Internet writings.
The February verdict was widely condemned by human rights groups and bloggers as a dangerous precedent that could limit online freedom in the most populous Arab country.
Reporters without Borders said Suleiman, in letters sent from prison, had complained of being handcuffed and beaten then put into an isolation cell where he received very little food or water.
“I have been subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment,” the Paris-based media watchdog quoted Suleiman as saying. The group urged Egypt to release Suleiman, who also goes by the name Kareem Amer. He is being held in Borg el-Arab prison near the northern port city of Alexandria.
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, which represents Suleiman, said in a statement that a prison guard and another prisoner beat him while a prison official looked on. The beating caused one of his teeth to be broken.
Later, the group said, Suleiman was sent to a “disciplinary cell” where he was put in handcuffs and leg shackles and beaten again. The group said the beatings resulted from Suleiman “uncovering an act of corruption in the prison” but gave no further details.
An Interior Ministry spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment. The government says it opposes torture and prosecutes abusers if it has evidence of wrongdoing.
The Internet has emerged as a major forum for critics of the Egyptian government to express their views in a country where the state runs large newspapers and main television stations.
Suleiman, a secular-minded Muslim, has not denied writing the articles for which he was convicted, but said they merely represented his own views.
One of Suleiman’s articles said al-Azhar in Cairo, one of the most prominent seats of Sunni Muslim learning, was promoting extreme ideas. Suleiman has also described some of the companions of the Muslim prophet Mohammad as “terrorists” and likened Mubarak to dictatorial pharaohs who ruled ancient Egypt. (Reporting by Cynthia Johnston; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
Link to original article.
Erin Wildermuth, the video production manager at Bureaucrash.com, sent us these great videos which they created to help promote Kareem’s cause around the world. Please watch it, favorite it, link to it, or embed it into your own blogs!
The Coalition would like to thank the Bureaucrash team for their amazing and consistent efforts in helping Kareem. They have shown a wonderful and much needed commitment which we appreciate very much!
