Recently, about a dozen of Swedish Parliament members sent a letter to the Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Kareem.
The Parliament members stated that Kareem “is a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression”. The signatories of the letter, who make up the Parliamentary Human Rights Group, also called for an investigation “into the allegations of ill-treatment” of Kareem in prison, and for the repeal of the provision in Egypt’s penal code that allow for punishment for publishing “offenses”.

We are reprinting this letter with permission:

As we noted a few weeks ago, today was Kareem’s final appeal. The decision of this appeal will be announced on the 20th of October. In the meantime Kareem will continue suffering in his jail cell while the Egyptian government visibily ignores all requests to release him.

This coming November, Kareem will have spent 80% of his sentence time and we are hoping that on the 20th of October they will officially announce his freedom. If not, it marks a new crime committed by the Egyptian government, which continues to abuse its powers at the expense of innocent individuals such as Kareem, whose only crime was practicing his right to freedom of speech on a personal blog.

Please contact your local Egyptian Embassies or Consulates and respectfully demand that Kareem’s release will be secured after years of intentional abuse.

An article that appeared in the Washington Post recently makes a brief mention of Kareem.

The U.N.’s New Censor:

Even if Mr. Hosni’s supporters succeed in cajoling or coercing pro-Israel groups to back their man, he would remain as suitable to lead Unesco as a Cairene cat would be to guard a stew. Try convincing jailed blogger Kareem Nabil Soliman, or blackballed satirist Ali Salem, or chronically harassed activist Wael Abbas, that Mr. Hosni’s brand of cultural preservation should be exported throughout the world.

Read the full article here.