You can read the details on Jarelkamar’s blog here.

From 3arabawy’s blog:

Egyptian blogger Kareem, who’s been in police custody for two months pending investigation, will show up in Moharram Beik Court Thursday 18 January in Alexandria to face charges that include: posting articles on the internet deemed “insulting” to the president and the Islamic faith.

[Above: Photo of Kareem taken on November 8, 2006. Kareem had been detained for four days pending investigations. That day was his first time before the judge. His detention was renewed for another 15 days then. You can read about it here. This pic was taken by blogger Mahmoud el-Banhawy with his mobile phone camera. Kareem was inside the court cell waiting for his judge to arrive.]

For those religious conservatives cheering Kareem’s arrest, and his expulsion from Al-Azhar University for his “anti-Islamic views”… The regime that detained and put Kareem on trial, is the same regime that kidnapped 180 Muslim Brotherhood students from Al-Azhar dorms and has Khairat el-Shatter slowly dying in prison… is the same regime that denies Copts equal treatment as citizens of this country… is the same regime that sodomizes leftists and ordinary citizens… is the same regime that intimidates workers on strikes… is the same regime that tortured and killed the peasants of Sarando…

Wake up! It’s not about liking Kareem’s ideas or not… You cheer Kareem’s persecution today, your turn is coming tomorrow…

Please keep your hopes and prayers with Kareem.

We have just been informed that Kareem’s next investigation session will take place on the 31st of January.

We’d like to thank the DC Coalition for Blog Freedom for organizing a rally for Kareem last week. Thank you so much for your efforts.

From Mideast Youth:

Larbi sent us this article recently via a comment here. It is apparently unavaible on the internet, but Larbi was generous enough to provide the text for us:

Blogs sous surveillance

Par Alain Frachon, le Monde (France) du 13 Janvier 2007

Il s’appelle Abdelkareem Nabil Suleiman. C’est un jeune étudiant égyptien de 22 ans, un garçon sage, d’une famille musulmane conservatrice. On ne lui connaît aucun tropisme pour l’extrémisme politique – ni gauche ni islamiste. Il étudie le droit pour devenir avocat. Il aime son pays, ses parents, ses sœurs et sûrement ses grands-parents. Depuis la fin octobre 2005, Abdelkareem n’est plus tout à fait un homme libre, rapporte Reporters sans frontières (www.rsf.org). Régulièrement convoqué par la justice, il est tantôt incarcéré, tantôt remis en liberté, le temps que l’on précise les charges contre lui retenues. De nouveau arrêté le 6 novembre 2006, il a été présenté un mois plus tard à un procureur de la région d’Alexandrie (200 km au nord du Caire, la capitale). Il a comparu seul, ses avocats ayant été convoqués ailleurs … Le procureur a décidé de maintenir le jeune homme quelques semaines de plus en prison. Mais il a, enfin, f
ormulé des chefs d’inculpation. C’est lourd : « Circulation de rumeurs troublant l’ordre public ; diffamation à l’encontre du président égyptien ; incitation au renversement du régime ; incitation à la haine envers l’islam, circulation d’idées nuisant à la réputation de l’Egypte. »

Qu’a donc fait le sage Abdelkareem Nabil Suleiman ? Quel crime a-t-il commis pour retenir ainsi l’attention de la justice de son pays ? Réponse : il blogue. Sous son nom de blogueur, Kareem Amer, il tien son journal électronique à l’adresse suivante : karam903.blogspot.com, à l’intention de ceux qui ont le goût de s’y promener. Ecrits subversifs ? Abdelkareem dénonce le sort que l’islam réserve aux femmes, stigmatise les attiques contre les coptes d’Egypte, défend la cause des libertés public, etc. Voltairien sans le savoir, sans doute, il est centriste, réformiste sur un échiquier politique dont les dirigeants – le régime finissant d’Hosni Moubarak – ont décidé qu’entre eux, autocrates aux affaires, et les islamistes, il n’y aurait rien. Cela fait près d’un quart de siècle que ces régimes-là écrasent toute opposition démocratique pour créer l’impasse qui justifie le statu quo : nous ou les islamistes.

A nouveau champ d’expression, nouvelle répression donc. Mais la Toile a ceci de plaisant qu’elle facilite la solidarité militante – en réseau précisément. Pour sortir de l’alternative régimes autoritaires-islamistes, des courageux s’organisent. Ils défendent les défenseurs des droits de la femme et de l’homme dans le monde arabe. The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (hrinfo.net) a le premier attiré l’attention sur le blogeur égyptien. Tapez Kareem Amer sur un moteur de recherche pour prendre la mesure de la mobilisation en faveur de ce prisonnier de conscience.

Sous la plume de notre consoeur Claire Ulrich, les lecteurs du Monde 2 pourront prochainement lire le portrait de l’Américain Ethan Zuckerman. C’est l’un des plus déterminés des activistes des droits de l’homme sur internet. Il anime www.globalvoicesonline.org qui, dans le monde entier, mène une veille constante sur les blogs traitant des droits de l’homme. Grâce à des blogueurs bénévoles de la trempe d’un jeune Egyptien nommé Abdelkareem Nabil Suleiman.

(By Alain Frachon, Le Monde January 13, 2007 – Le Monde is the leading French newspaper(www.lemonde.fr)

Luis Figueroa wrote about Kareem in an Op-ed piece for Prensa Libre.

A small group of us protested for Kareem’s cause in front of the Egyptian embassy.

Some of the posters that we made:

Mohammed, president of Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights.

Mohammed again, along with Marwa, one of the editors at ME Faith:

The Mideast Youth team has created a banner for Kareem. It would be great if you can all include it on your blogs as well to help spread awareness on Kareem’s case.

Please don’t forget him, things keep getting harder and we’d like to show him our continuous support:

After referring his case to “injustice” State Security Prosecution, Kareem Amer is sentenced to additional 45 days in custody

Cairo – 19 December 2006,

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRinfo) condemns Higher State Security Prosecution (HSSP) decision to hold in custody the Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer for additional 45 days pending investigation. Kareem’s case was eventually referred to HSSP to consider it.

Kareem Amer, held in custody since 45 days ago, arrived at Eastern Alexandria Integral Court guarded closely by officers from State Security Service in Alexandria. Kareem was also prevented from seeing his lawyer from HRinfo. The lawyer insisted on demanding whether to trial him or to immediately release him, upon the fact that the investigations have already been completed one month ago. However, the prosecution sentenced him for additional 45 days in custody.

Kareem Amer told HRinfo, in spite of prevention, that he is detained incommunicado at Al-Hadra prison in Alexandria. Such detention circumstances applied on Kareem are considered punitive, although he did no crime.

In addition, Kareem’s family is prevented from visiting him. This is considered a sever violation of law.

HRinfo’s lawyer was astonished that she heard before the start of investigation that Kareem is decided to spend additional 45 days in custody; this already took place after investigation. Therefore, suspicions are aroused that there are no adherence to fairness standards, to the extent that detention period is decided even before interrogating the accused.

Arabic Network for Human Rights Information deplores these injustice and unfair practices, and announces that Kareem’s life is in danger because of his detention circumstances and depriving him from his family visits. That is in addition to entitling State Security Service, which is famous for its brutality, to supervise his case. HRinfo calls upon local and international civil society to protect the life of that young opinion prisoner who is denied his right to be trialed.

Visit HRINFO for more information regarding Kareem’s case.

By Dalia Ziada & Jese Sage -

In a cramped jail cell in Alexandria, Egypt, sits a soft-spoken 22-year-old student. Kareem Amer was remanded to over a month in prison for allegedly “defaming the President of Egypt” and “highlighting inappropriate aspects that harm the reputation of Egypt.” Where did Amer commit these supposed felonies? On his weblog.

If the Alexandria prosecutors’ standards of censorship were applied in the US, thousands of Americans would be behind bars. The Egyptian authorities’ decision to jail an obscure student for his blogposts reveals a larger struggle for free speech playing out between dissident bloggers and state prosecutors across the Middle East.

For decades, the region’s dictators maintained a monopoly on public information. Newspapers, radio stations, and national television broadcasts were nearly all owned by the state. These regime-controlled media outlets toed the government line, maligned political opponents, and blocked critical voices. By inverting the watchdog role of the press – where journalists expose, investigate, and question – what should be a critical independent institution was instead transformed into a mouthpiece for government propaganda.

The advent of blogs in the past few years, however, has reshaped the playing field. While some regimes (like Algeria) may still own the main printing presses and control the national supply of ink, any citizen can access free blogging services. Now an individual’s voice – even that of a random student at Al-Azhar University, like Kareem Amer – can reach audiences around the globe.

Regimes accustomed to control have struggled to respond. In Tunisia, web publisher Zouhair Yahyaoui was dragged from an Internet café by security forces and tortured into revealing his site’s password after he posted a quiz mocking President Zinedine Ben Ali. In Bahrain, the Information Ministry blocked the blog of entrepreneur Mahmoud Al-Yousif for covering a political scandal. In Iran, authorities arrested student Mojtaba Saminejad after he condemned the arrest of several fellow bloggers and “insulted the Supreme Leader.”

Protecting free speech in the Middle East hinges on the fate of young activists like Kareem Amer. Raised in a strict Islamic household, Amer was placed in Al-Azhar’s religious school system at the age of six and watched as his sisters were forced to quit school and wear the niqab (the full-body black veil). After 18 years in the rigid world of the Al Azhar system, Amer evidently felt trapped. Rather than embrace the religious establishment, he became a critic of discrimination against women and non-Muslims.

Blogging became Amer’s outlet – and his downfall. When Al-Azhar officials discovered a blogpost criticizing extremist professors, Amer was expelled and his case referred to the public prosecutor.

Although a human rights lawyer accompanied Amer to his interrogation, prosecutors made clear they were indicting Amer for his beliefs. “Do you fast on Ramadan?” they demanded. “Do you pray?” They even insisted he reveal his opinions on the Darfur crisis. Amer would not retract his blogposts, so prosecutors threw him in jail – and laughed at the human rights attorney present, openly mocking the concept of standing up for individual rights.

Only a few years ago, the arrest of a student at Al-Azhar would have been met with silence and indifference from the outside world. But today, hundreds of fellow bloggers and readers from around the world have raised the alarm. Over 1,500 have sent letters to the Egyptian government and the State Department demanding Amer’s release. The technology that has empowered unknown students in closed societies to speak to the world also gives readers everywhere the ability to rally together to protect free expression.

It also enabled Amer to smuggle blogposts out from his Alexandria cell. “A person using his brain and expressing his ideas freely,” he observed, “is more dangerous in our country than someone who destroys others’ property or deals drugs.”

Amer’s arrest – for writing on a website few people have ever read – comes as the future of the Middle East hangs in the balance. While recent years have witnessed a surge in young voices challenging the status quo, powerful forces are trying to close down that window of greater liberty. In the campaign to hold Egyptian authorities accountable for criminalizing free speech, much more than the fate of one young blogger is at stake.

Dalia Ziada is a staffer at the Cairo-based Arabic Network for Human Rights Information. Jesse Sage directs the HAMSA project of the American Islamic Congress.

Cairo – 7 December 2006,

Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRinfo) and Egyptian Observatory for Justice and Law (EOJL) call upon civil society and public opinion to support the opinion prisoner; Kareem Amer, who is imprisoned in Al-Hadra prison of Alexandria for some false charges. The real reason of his imprisonment is that he expressed his anti-governmental and anti-Islamic views on his own online articles.

Three lawyers from HRinfo and EOJL went yesterday to represent Kareem Amer before the prosecution. However, they were astonished with the misleading information given to them, in order to indirectly prevent them form representing Kareem, who was referred to Eastern Alexandria Prosecutor Office to be re-interrogated. Despite Kareem demanded to call for his lawyers who were awaiting him in Mohram Bek prosecutor office, his demand was denied and the prosecutor awarded him additional fifteen days in detention.

The lawyers were not waiting for Kareem alone; the judge of Mohram Bek Prosecution was waiting for him too. All of them were surprised when all the prisoners of Al-Hadra prison were brought to the prosecution excluding Kareem. The prisoners told the lawyers that the police and State Security Service took Kareem to Eastern Alexandria Prosecutor Office to interrogate him there. Then, the lawyers learnt that Kareem was awarded additional fifteen days, and his demand to wait for his lawyers was denied.

Arabic Network for Human Rights Information and Egyptian Observatory for Justice and Law (EOJL) call upon Egyptian and international civil society and public opinion to force the Egyptian government to eliminate its evasiveness and to immediately release Kareem Amer. If they believe that Kareem deserves punishment for what he wrote, they should refer him to court rather than renewing his detention. This is considered a sever violation of law and an arbitrary use of the hatful right of provisional detention.