From Amnesty International:

One year ago, Egyptian blogger Karim Amer was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for the “crime” of publishing on the internet material critical of Islam and President Mubarak.

The then 23-year-old former al-Azhar University student was sentenced on 22 February 2007 and the Court of Appeal confirmed the sentence on 12 March of the same year. Amnesty International described the sentence as yet another slap in the face of freedom of expression in Egypt.

Amnesty International considers Karim Amer to be a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned on account of the peaceful expression of his views. The organisation condemned the four-year sentence he received and calls for his immediate and unconditional release.

Karim Amer, who is serving his prison sentence in Borg Al-Arab Prison, Alexandria, wrote in his letters to one of his legal counsels that he was beaten on 24 October 2007.

Karim Amer said he was punched and kicked by a prisoner and a prison guard under the supervision of a prison investigations officer. One of his teeth was broken and he was badly bruised. He was then taken to a disciplinary cell, hand-cuffed and his legs tied up and beaten again by the same two individuals on the orders of the prison investigations officer.

He also wrote that another prisoner unknown to him was brought to the cell, stripped naked and beaten by the same individuals in his presence. He was then threatened that he would receive the same treatment if he intervened again in the prisons’ affairs. Karim Amer said he advised Eritreans in the prison to keep their money after he had discovered that one Eritrean cell-mate to whom he serves as an interpreter lost US$100.

Karim Amer wrote that he was examined by the prison’s doctor, but there was no mention of his broken tooth in the medical report. He also said that he was not allowed to file a complaint about what happened.

Read more and take action.

Below are some photos of the rally that took place in Washington DC in defense of Kareem on the 22nd of February. This is the fourth rally to take place for Kareem in Washington!

Big thanks to Jonathan Blanks for the photos and for making much of this possible! And thanks to everyone who made it through despite the uncooperative weather.

Kareem’s case has been featured in an op-ed article written by supportive students of the London School of Economics. Below is a sample of the page:

[Click photo for larger image]

Below is a picture of the very successfull rally that took place for Kareem in New York on Friday, the 22nd of February. Thanks to everyone who made it! Excellent big banners were created for this event.

[Click here for full image.]

Curt from the Committee to Protect Bloggers has made an appearance in The World’s latest technology podcast, and mentions Kareem’s case:

[Download MP3]

Latest press release from RSF concerning Kareem:

Reporters Without Borders firmly condemns the way the authorities behave towards bloggers and it reiterates its call for the release of Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman, a blogger also known by the pseudonym of Kareem Amer, who was sentenced on 22 February 2007 to four years in prison – three for “inciting hatred of Islam” and one for defaming President Hosni Mubarak.

“Kareem Amer should not have been obliged to become the symbol of repression of the Egyptian blogosphere,” the press freedom organisation said. “He should have been able to continue blogging on the situation in Egypt. He was arrested and sentenced to four years in prison for an entry posted on his blog. We call for his release and we appeal to Internet users to ensure that the straggle of Egypt’s bloggers is heard.”

Kareem Amer has been mistreated at Borg El Arab prison, 40 km outside Alexandria, where he is serving his sentence. In letters to his lawyers he has spoken of being “shut in an isolation cell for 10 days” and of “physical torture hushed up by the prison doctor, who has altered my medical record.”

Arrested for the first time in October 2005 for posting anti-religious comments on his blog (www.karam903.blogspot.com), he spent 18 days in detention and his computer hard drive was seized, but he was not charged.

He was arrested again in late 2006 and was tried four months later by Alexandria’s Moharram Bek court. At the second hearing, on 1 February 2007, he was accused of apostasy by Mohamed Dawoud, a lawyer appearing in an independent capacity, who called for the “maximum sentence for him who has insulted, God, His Prophet and the Koran.”

Before his second arrest, Kareem Amer often contributed to discussion forums on websites such as www.rezgar.com. His goal, after finishing his studies, was to create a human rights NGO, one that defended Muslim women against all forms of discrimination and violence. He was awarded the Reporters Without Borders / Fondation de France prize in the Internet category on 5 December 2007.

Reporters Without Borders wrote to the Egyptian justice minister on 22 January 2007 asking him to intercede on behalf of Kareem Amer. The organisation also urged the United Nations not to let Egypt host next year’s Internet Governance Forum. No answer was ever received to the letter and the forum is to go ahead in Egypt.

Sign the RSF petition to call for his release.

Are you in London?

Join a demonstration in defense of Kareem!

Friday, 22nd of February, 2pm-4pm
Egyptian Embassy,
26 South Street,
Mayfair W1K 1DW

Since his imprisonment, Kareem has spent time in solitary confinement, as well as deliberately put in cells with violent prisoners, beaten, humiliated, and consistently persecuted to abandon his secular beliefs and accept Islam again. His family have disowned him, with his father saying he will happily see his apostate son be killed.

The London division of the worldwide campaign is organised by a pair of London School of Economics students. We are looking forward to receiving all the support people can offer to this campaign.

Contact us to put you through to the organizers.

Letter from Joey Coon concerning the Washington DC rallies for Kareem:

Dear friends,

February 22nd is an important anniversary: the first anniversary of the sentencing and imprisonment of a peaceful Egyptian student for comments on his blog. I’d like to ask you to join friends of free speech in supporting freedom for Abdelkareem Nabil Soliman. People in or around Washington, D.C. can join us at the Egyptian Cultural Office in Washington, D.C. on Friday February 22nd to show support for Kareem and for freedom of speech. Click here to contact me for more details. (A friend has agreed to treat attendees to lunch at Baja Fresh afterwards.)

February 22nd marks one year since Kareem’s sentencing and imprisonment.

Kareem has been defended by many who disagree with his views, but who defend his right to express them. No one should be imprisoned and beaten for blogging. I invite those who live in the Washington, D.C. area to join us for a brief, peaceful and respectful rally. We ask only that you join us during your lunch hour to support Kareem and free expression. Those of you who are interested in signing a petition, providing information on your blog, or writing respectful letters to Egyptian officials, can find other suggestions on how to help Kareem here.

For more information on Kareem, his sentence, how he has suffered, and the campaign to free him, please visit www.freekareem.org.

Sincerely,
Joey Coon

The Free Kareem website has been on a hiatus for a short while as we were very busy planning a set of actions that will be carried out on the 22nd of February. We expect many people around the world to be involved on this day, which is intended to bolster support for Kareem Amer.

Why the 22nd of February?
This is the day that Kareem’s sentence was finalized and announced. You can read all the posts we wrote last February here.

Has he spent one year in prison?
No, Kareem has spent more than a year in prison. As our Kareem counter shows, he has been in prison for 466 days now, since the 6th of November.

How is Kareem doing?
The last letter indicated that Kareem was doing much better than he was in previous months. However, it has been at least 3 weeks since we last heard from him, and we are not sure what could’ve happened since then. We are doing our best to remain in close contact with him, although we are not certain whether or not our letters are actually reaching the intended destination. Close friends will do their best to visit him soon and we hope to write an update concerning his status.

What is a worldwide op-ed day?
We are trying to get as many people as possible, in many different parts of the world, and in as many different languages, to write about Kareem in their local papers (whether it be student papers or internationally distributed and respected papers such as the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NY Times, and more. Op-ed is short for “opinion/editorial,” and authors/journalists who publish articles in such columns tend to be more personal and opinionated than the average report. If we succeed in getting the intended number of papers involved, this will be a very powerful step for the Free Kareem campaign.

Why are you holding a worldwide op-ed day for Kareem?
Our strategy is intended to put Kareem’s story back in the papers. Due to lack of updates, and general lack of awareness, a lot of people seem to have forgotten about Kareem’s case. We are doing our best now to alarm everyone around the world that Egypt cannot be respected if this young man is still being unjustly imprisoned.

What can we do on the 22nd of Feb?
You can involve yourself by posting a message for or about Kareem on your blog, website, journal, or if you’re in the area, attending a rally that will take place in the 3 following locations:
- Paris, France
- London, UK
- Washington DC, USA

We have chosen 3 strategic locations as opposed to conducting a worldwide rally this year. The reason for this is that we are trying to shift our strategy a bit and focus more on media-related events that will put Egypt back on the human rights agenda. We will resume with our worldwide rallies when we feel that the time is more appropriate.

Please contact us if you would like to find out more information concerning these rallies (or our future activities in general.) We are working hard on making this all possible for Kareem and we will soon follow-up with an update.

In this latest action alert by RSF you will find information on the latest events concerning Yemeni websites, including the blocking of FreeKareem.org, which apparently has been lifted on the 3rd of February:

Online programmes for circumventing censorship, or “proxies,” are also inaccessible from within Yemen and several opposition websites are regularly blocked. They include al-Shoura (www.al-shora.net) and the Yemeni Council (www.al-yemen.org) and Yemen Sound (www.yemen-sound.com) discussion forums, which are among the most popular in the country. The support site for Kareem Amer, an Egyptian blogger who has been arrested for almost a year for using his right to online free expression, has also been inaccessible since 28 January.

The new information and communication technologies seem to be subject to severe restrictions in Yemen. We learned in June 2007 that your ministry had banned several mobile phone news distribution services, such as those proposed by Nass Mobile and Bela Qoyod Mobile. The reason given was insufficient control over the SMS messages. Reporters Without Borders finds these measures to be disturbing for free expression.

Read the full letter to Yemen’s information minister, Hassan Ahmed Al-Lawzi, here.