Tomorrow, Mubarak celebrates his 80th birthday. We hope that he wakes up to the realization that, while he may be celebrating, thousands of innocent prisoners, including our friend Kareem Amer, are unjustly suffering in jail. This is a grave mistake by the Mubarak regime - please, free Kareem and his ilk. Frankly we are not asking for much! And we have been requesting this consistently for the past 544 days! Kareem did nothing wrong and he should be released unconditionally as soon as possible.

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‘We need to keep Kareem in our thoughts’:

On the first anniversary of his imprisonment, the ‘Free Kareem’ campaign launched another worldwide campaign today to draw attention to jailed Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer.

By ALEXANDRA SANDELS

BEIRUT/CAIRO, Feb. 22, 2008 (MENASSAT) - It was on February 22 last year that Egypt sentenced its first cyber dissident to prison. Kareem Amer, a then 21-year old former law student at the Islamic Al-Azhar University had published writings on his blog karam903.blogspot.com that posed strong criticism to his Alma Mater and the regime of president Hosni Mubarak. The Egyptian authorities decided it was time to pull the plug on the cyber-dissident. An Alexandria court sentenced Amer to four years in prison for “defaming Islam and President Mubarak.”

The blogger is currently spending his days at Burj al-Arab prison outside Alexandria, “a notorious institution for criminals,” as one activist describes the facility.

Over the past year, international rights groups as well as foreign politicians and policy makers have urged the Egyptian authorities to release Amer.

Egyptian foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit offered in response that he rejects interference, “by whoever it may be,” in Egypt’s affairs.

In commemoration of Friday’s one-year anniversary of Amer’s sentencing, the online campaign ‘Free Kareem’ held a global ‘Kareem Day’ in an effort to spur awareness of the case and make ‘people not forget’ about the imprisoned blogger.

Activists planned rallies outside the Egyptian embassies in Washington DC, Paris, and London and the campaign organizers urged writers to submit opinion articles on Amer’s case in newspapers and student publications.

It is not the first time the group puts on advocacy events for Amer. Last year, they managed to organize simultaneous protests in ten world capitals, including Paris, New York, Stockholm, and London.

This year, however, the team has shifted its strategy somewhat to increase its impact.

“We want to make this day as effective as possible and therefore we have changed our strategy from last year. Instead of holding worldwide rallies we have chosen three strategic cities for the demonstrations. We are also targeting the media and hope to enforce our message through the newspapers’ opinion pages,” Esra’a Al-Shafei, Director of the Free Kareem Coalition said in an interview with MENASSAT.

Al-Shafei emphasized that it is particularly important for the group to target the U.S. media and institutions because of “America’s strategic influence on Egypt.”

“Billions of dollars are being sent to Egypt from the U.S. We want to pressure the Egyptian authorities to understand that keeping Kareem in prison is harming their image,” continued Al-Shafei. “I believe the Egyptian government is aware it is being pressured on the matter”.

The physical and psychological condition of Amer himself remains a constant worry to the activists.

El-Shafei expressed concerns about Kareem’s state saying that it was “a while ago” since she heard from him.

“I’ve heard he is doing better. We are sending him letters but we don’t know if he is receiving them. For every three letters we send him we usually get one back ,” said Al-Shafei.

Egyptian blogger Wa7damasreya (Egyptian girl) stays in regular touch with Amer and is one of the few who has been able to visit him in jail.

“I am very close to him. It’s very hard to visit him in prison. I think I’ve gone three times now. You have to be there very early and they make you wait for a long time,” she told MENASSAT in a phone interview.

The last time Wa7damasreya visited Amer in prison she waited six hours and was able to meet with him for less than fifteen minutes.

She also said it has been a while since she last heard from Amer.

“I received a letter from Kareem on February 6 but it was sent to my house in Alexandria instead of Cairo where I live, so I haven’t been able to read it yet. It’s a risk for my family. They don’t like that I am receiving letters from prisoners,” Wa7damasreya said.

Life in prison is very hard for Amer but Wa7damasreya points out that the blogger always brightens up when he receives visits.

During her visits, Wa7damasreya always brings Amer books as she knows he is an avid reader.

“Kareem loves books. I always try to bring a book with me when I go to see him. Last time I brought him a book by Naguib Mahfouz”.

However, the blogger said that Burj al-Arab is filled with crooks and criminals. “Kareem is surrounded by criminals. The guards are hitting the prisoners with batons,” she said.

Amer himself recently claimed in a letter to his lawyers than he had been subjected to abuse by another inmate and a guard inside the prison.

His lawyers from the Cairo-based NGO Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRInfo) said that Amer was beaten and then transferred to solitary confinement where he was shackled and assaulted. One of his teeth was allegedly broken during the abuse.

The organization has previously stated that the incident was ordered by a prison investigation officer.

Amer’s legal advisers have raised the case with the General Prosecutor but there have been no reports on an investigation into the matter.

When asked how the public can help Amer, Wa7damasreya told MENASSAT that “sending him letters and books” is always a good idea.

El-Shafei restated the importance for people “not to forget about Kareem” and “to keep him in your thoughts.”

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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.

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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]

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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

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Reporters Without Borders’ latest press release urges Bush and Sarkozy to raise concerns of free speech in the Middle East considering the rise of crackdown on bloggers. The press release features Kareem’s case as well as the case of imprisoned Saudi blogger Fouad Al Farhan.

Relevant excerpts:

Egypt and Saudi Arabia are both on the Reporters Without Borders list of Internet Enemies. Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer, 23, has been held since 6 November 2006 and is now serving a three-year sentence for “inciting hatred of Islam” and another one-year sentence for insulting the President Hosni Mubarak. He often posted blog entries critical of the government’s religious and authoritarian abuses. He also criticise Egypt’s leading religious institutions, including the Sunni University of Al-Azhar, where he studied law.

Saudi blogger Ahmad Fouad Al-Farhan, 32, has been held since 10 December in Jeddah’s Dhaban prison. The authorities are not yet required to reveal why he is being held because, under Saudi law, a person may be held for questioning for six months.

Arabic:

ترد مصر والمملكة العربية السعودية على لائحة أعداء الإنترنت. فقد حكم على كريم عامر البالغ 23 سنة من العمر والمعتقل منذ 6 تشرين الثاني/نوفمبر 2006 بالسجن لمدة ثلاثة أعوام بتهمة “التحريض على كراهية الإسلام” ولمدة عام لإهانته الرئيس المصري علماً بأن هذا المدوّن كان يندد بالانحرافات الدينية والسلطوية لحكومة حسني مبارك وقد انتقد أعلى المؤسسات الدينية في البلاد ولا سيما جامعة الأزهر التي درس الحقوق فيها.

أما أحمد فؤاد الفرحان البالغ 32 سنة من العمر فمعتقل منذ 10 كانون الأول/ديسمبر 2007 في سجن ذهبان في جدة. والواقع أن القانون السعودي يجيز للسلطات التي لم تكشف بعد عن أسباب اعتقال المدوّن، احتجاز المتهم على ذمة التحقيق لمدة ستة أشهر.

French:

L’Egypte et l’Arabie saoudite figurent sur la liste des ennemis d’Internet. Kareem Amer, 23 ans, détenu depuis le 6 novembre 2006, a été condamné à trois ans de prison pour avoir “incité à la haine de l’islam” et à un an pour avoir insulté le président égyptien. Le blogueur dénonçait régulièrement les dérives religieuses et autoritaires du gouvernement de Hosni Moubarak. Il avait également critiqué les plus hautes institutions religieuses du pays, en particulier l’université sunnite Al-Azhar, dans laquelle il étudiait le droit.

De son côté, Ahmad Fouad Al-Farhan, 32 ans, est détenu depuis le 10 décembre 2007 à la prison de Dhaban, à Jeddah. D’après la loi saoudienne, les autorités, qui n’ont toujours pas révélé les raisons de l’interpellation du blogueur, peuvent détenir un individu pendant six mois pour l’interroger.

Find the press releases here:

- Arabic
- English
- French
- Spanish

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Alexandra Sandels, a Cairo-based Swedish journalist, writes about the growing lack of press freedom in Egypt for Menassat:

Despite the freedom of expression boundaries being pushed by the independent press and the blogging community, 2007 witnessed an upsurge in clampdowns on the press and free speech in Egypt.

[…]

Egypt’s decision to sentence 23-year old blogger Kareem Amer to prison in February sparked a fury among the civil society and attracted much unwanted attention from international media. A critic of both the leading Islamic institution al-Azhar and the Egyptian government, Amer was sentenced to a four-year prison sentence for insulting Islam and President Mubarak on his blog. The case marks the first time Egypt refers a blogger to a prison term.

Amer’s lawyer Gamal Eid, who is also the director of the Cairo-based non-governmental organization, The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRInfo), stressed that “Kareem crossed the line by criticizing Islam, the President, and the Al-Azhar institution.”

Abdel Hadi suggested that the regime might have sought to “protect its legitimacy” by sentencing Amer, thus “demonstrating that they are tough on those criticizing religion.”

When combined with public activism, blogging is a particularly dangerous activity, according to Eid. In April, security officials at Cairo airport arrested Brotherhood-affiliated journalist and blogger Abdel Moneim Mahmoud as he attempted to travel to Sudan to do reporting on human rights in the Arab world.

Read the full article here.

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This is the latest press release from Reporters Without Borders, which also highlights Kareem’s case:

Reporters Without Borders hails the decision taken by the administrative court of Egypt’s state council on 29 December not to block access to 51 websites which judge Abdel Fattah Murad, the head of the Alexandria court, had accused of defaming and attacking the president.

“This is good news for online free expression in Egypt,” the press freedom organisation said. “The real reason Murad wanted to block these sites was their reference to the charge of ‘intellectual dishonesty’ made against him last February. This ruling raises our hopes about respect for free speech on the Egyptian Internet and we would like to think that similar ones will follow, for example, in the case of Kareem Amer, a young blogger who has been imprisoned for criticising the president and others.”

A total of 21 sites, including Baheyya and Gharbeia, two popular blogs, and the site of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, were initially accused of attacking the president by Judge Murad on 11 March, after allegations circulated on the blogosphere that a book by the judge on the Internet’s legal challenges had been plagiarised. The judge subsequently added another 30 websites to his complaint.

The administrative court ruled that the sites were just content hosts and, as such, not responsible for the comments that might be posted on them. Judge Ahmed Hassaan, the head of the administrative court, refused to block the sites and denied that they had violated the constitution, as Murad had claimed.

The ruling has been hailed as “historic” by the Egyptian blogosphere. Gamal Eid, the head of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, said he was “delighted” by the decision. It presaged a “return to normal” for the Egyptian Internet and recognised “the right of Egyptian citizens to have access to a free network,” he said.

Egypt is one of the world’s most repressive countries as regards online activity. Two bloggers were arrested in 2007, including Kareem Amer, who was sentenced to four years in prison on charges of insulting President Hosni Mubarak and inciting hatred of Islam in comments criticising the government’s authoritarian and religious excesses.

Click here for the link.

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17 year old Kenneth Bergfeld came across Kareem’s story in Germany. He felt that such an injustice must be fought. He wishes to share his artistic contribution with the Free Kareem campaign and the rest of the world, and thus, here is Kenneth’s portrait of Kareem, followed by his description of it:

My painting may not look 100% like Kareem, but it probably is the most “famous” picture of him and the facial expression of his give reason enough for a spectator to recognize Kareem or at least to assume it is him.

The painting has the measurements of 120 cm times 80 cm and the medium is acrylics on canvas.

I’d like to stress why it was important for me to paint Kareem. When reading the newspaper article concerning Kareem’s situation it felt awkward to me that although we live in a globalized world issues such as the freedom of speech can not be taken for granted everywhere.

I had difficulties imaging myself being imprisoned for sharing my own opinion in school (Kareem’s case is that of university). It seems so normal that we say what is on our heart, that we speak out our concerns, criticize government, leaderships and various institutions. Yet, there are countries where these freedoms are not granted to the people.

So the question for me was what I could do in order to feel with these political prisoners. What could I do to understand their destiny? How could I show my concern and bring it into public so that more people knew about Kareem? And most important: How can I show those regimes that although there are vast oceans and thousand of miles between them and me I get in on the injustices taking place there? The answer was simple to me.

I sketch and draw since I was a little kid telling stories of my vacations, field trips or of fictional fantasies. Now, at my age of 17, I am politically concerned and I felt that it was lain on my heart to paint Kareem.

I am hoping to study arts after graduating from high school and aspire that then I can reach even more people with my message. There are millions of people who are interested in stories like the one of Kareem, but in our modern age of mass media with advertisements and billboards robbing any free squarefoot of our skies it seems hard to really see what is relevant and what not. Stories of people like Kareem have to be made public in any thinkable way that there is.

I have experienced this during the process of painting Kareem and hope to do so when “Kareem” will be hanging at a local art exhibition this Saturday and Sunday (15th and 16th of December).

Nonetheless, I have a specific view on why it is important to fight for people like Kareem.

As already said before, we can show governments far away that we do not support them (furthermore, feel grievance at the way they act) through the internet and sites like FreeKareem.org.

It is such people like this that do their part for the good fight and you out there that can make a change. If we unite globally, we cannot be defeated. Maybe your contribution is art, writing to Kareem, blogging, or any other way of showing your participation. But, the most important thing is that no matter how minor your contribution may seem at first sight someone in the world may be inspired to take even bigger action. The future is unwritten. And we can write it for the good of people like Kareem who do not experience the same advantages as we do and need support so that they have the feeling that someone out there is listening to them.

Anyone can feel free to contact me. Thank you very much for your interest.

This is an excellent and unique contribution and the Free Kareem Coalition is extremely honored to be sharing Kenneth’s work.

Thank you, dear Kenneth, for your time and dedication to Kareem’s cause and for the willingness to fight this grave injustice which was committed by the Egyptian government! Thank you!

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Journalist Magdy Samaan tells Kareem’s story in his latest article for the Daily Star Egypt:

CAIRO: Without a personal computer and through Internet cafés, 22-year-old Al-Azhar University student Abdel Kareem Nabil Soliman, known as Kareem Amer, created a blog under the name “Kareem Amer.” The blog focused on criticizing Islam, Al-Azhar education and the President.

During sectarian strife in Alexandria he supported the Copts.

But being unconventionally outspoken in a conservative society had its repercussions, especially that he was a student in the top Islamic educational institution.

[…]

While Amer accuses the prison administration of intentionally targeting him – he was put in solitary detention 65 days before being moved to the political prisoners’ section then to criminal – he says his relations with the fellow inmates are fine. “I avoid any theological discussion because it won’t lead anywhere.”

Amer enjoys the support of many international organizations and movements such as Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders and Human Rights Watch. A number of activists and bloggers have initiated the “Free Kareem” campaign, whereby they organize demonstrations in front of Egyptian embassies around the world and gather signatures on petitions calling for his release.

Amer didn’t garner the same level of support on a local level.

“Solidarity with Kareem is the basic solidarity with freedom of expression – a right granted for all regardless whether you agree or disagree with their ideas,” said Taha, who’s currently appealing a prison sentence she received for making a documentary about police torture in Egypt.

Negm conveyed, however, Egyptian bloggers’ support to Amer.

“Although I disagree with Kareem regarding his ideology and the means of expression but I think that the only response to opinions are opinions not oppression and limiting freedoms,” Negm said.

“I don’t have a problem with Kareem criticizing my faith, because it isn’t weak faith,” she added. “I think the main reason for imprisoning him is attacking the President. If the government penalizes religious contempt why would it allow websites that express contempt of Christianity? Isn’t Christianity also a religion?”

Read the full article here.

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