Kareem is mentioned in one of Menassat’s latest articles:

Egyptian courts are being flooded these days with so-called ‘Hesba’ lawsuits targeting outspoken writers, film makers and poets. According to Islamic law, anyone can file a Hesba lawsuit if they believe God has been insulted. But some suggest that money, fame and political repression play an equally important part in the recent rise of Hesba cases.

BEIRUT, August 18, 2008 (MENASSAT) – The latest figure to get tangled up in the murky waters of Hesba law suits is movie director Enad El-Dighaidy, whose film, Diaries of a Teenage Girl, has attracted the wrath of an attorney affiliated with Egypt’s ruling NDP party.

The unnamed lawyer is said to have vast experience in Hesba lawsuits and has asked the Sheikh of Egypt’s highest religious council, Al Azhar, to punish the female director with 80 lashes for defaming the country.

Sources told MENASSAT that the same lawyer has sought similar punishment against an Egyptian actress who appeared unveiled in a film. Last year, he was one of the lawyers who lobbied for putting Ibrahim Eissa, editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper Al-Dustour, on trial for publishing pieces questioning the health of Egypt’s 81-year-old President Mubarak.

Blogger Kareem Amer

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI, an Egyptian NGO) recently commissioned a study of the Hesba cases, which it has called “a nightmare for authors and artists.” ANHRI argued that the large increase in such lawsuits could not have happened “without the blessing of the Egyptian government.”

“There was a significant increase in Hesba cases in both 2007 and 2008. Most of the lawsuits have been political Hesba cases,” ANHRI Director Gamal Eid told MENASSAT.

Bloggers too have been targeted by the Hesba frenzy.

Two years ago, Kareem Amer, a 21-year-old student from Al Azhar University, had expressed his strong dissatisfaction with the Egyptian regime and the teachings of his university on his blog.

When in early 2006, Amer wrote that “the professors and sheikhs at Al Azhar, who stand against anyone who thinks freely, will end up in the dustbin of history,” he was expelled from his university and his professors filed a complaint with the General Prosecutor.

The Hesba suit against Amer was first rejected by a regular court but was upheld by an appeals court. In February 2007, Kareem Amer was handed a four-year prison sentence for “insulting Islam and the Egyptian President and inciting sedition.”

It was the first time Egypt sentenced a blogger to prison.

Read the rest of the article here.