Below is an open letter that will be handed to the Ambassadors to each of the eleven countries worldwide, in which demonstrations are to be held tomorrow in solidarity for Kareem:

Dear Mr. Ambassador:

We greet you in peace. Our reason for contacting you is the case of Abdelkareem Nabil Soliman, a young Egyptian law student at Al-Azhar University who was recently sentenced to four years in jail over writing on his personal Weblog.

We do not condone everything Mr. Soliman wrote, but we do believe in his right to express his opinion. His controversial writing criticized what he felt was a lack of freedom on the campus of Al-Azhar and in Egypt in general. As if to prove his point, the Egyptian court sentenced him to jail for expressing those views.

We do not believe Mr. Soliman should be in jail for simply stating his opinion, and we believe the court’s decision reflects very poorly on the country of Egypt. A mistake has been made.

We call upon Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to do an honorable act and pardon Mr. Soliman. Since Mr. Soliman was sentenced to jail for one year for insulting the President, we hope President Mubarak will show that words do not hurt him and that Mr. Soliman can go free.

Thank you for your consideration and for transmitting our appeal to President Mubarak.

We are looking for volunteers to help us design fliers for the countries involved in order to publicize the Free Kareem rallies.

Please contact us if interested. We’d greatly appreciate any help.

Worldwide rallies in support of Kareem will take place on the 27th of April! Details will be posted as soon as they are finalized. Please stay tuned, plan ahead, and spread the word!

Just recently, Ana Ikhwan blogger Abdul Mon’em Mahmoud, who has previously expressed solidarity for Kareem, was arrested and is being held for at least two weeks pending an investigation. The Egyptian government is not taking lightly his blogging on security officials’ acts of torture, as well as random detentions suffered by Egyptians.

The Free Kareem Coalition expresses its deep concern for the detention of Abdul Mon’em and hopes for his release. A Web site has been set up campaigning for his freedom: الحرية لعبد المنعم (Arabic).

Reporters Without Borders weighs in:

Call for release of blogger who reports on torture of detainees

Voicing concern about increasingly repressive policies towards online dissent, Reporters Without Borders called today for the release of blogger Abdul-Moneim Mahmud, who was arrested on 14 April at Cairo airport. He has been charged with membership of an “illegal organisation” (the Muslim Brotherhood), but his arrests seems to be linked to the photos and reports about the torture of detainees that he has posted on line.

“This arrest comes two months after another blogger, Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman, was sentenced to four years in prison,” Reporters Without Borders said. “These two young men hold very different views, but they have a common desire to denounce President Hosni Mubarak’s authoritarianism and the constant human rights violations in Egypt. We hope the authorities will free them and undertake to respect the principle of the free flow of information online.”

The state prosecutor’s office in Shoubra Al-Khaima ordered that Mahmud should be held for at least two weeks while he is investigated for alleged membership and financing of an illegal movement. Many local sources say he has in fact been targeted for reporting arbitrary arrests and acts of torture by the security services on his blog, Ana Ikhwan, and on the Muslim Brotherhood’s website.

Mahmud covered demonstrations organised by the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and circulated photos of police brutality on the Internet. Aged 27 and a journalism graduate of Cairo university, he is also a correspondent for the satellite TV station Al-Hiwar (The dialogue).

Suleiman, who is better known by his blogger pseudonym of “Kareem Amer”, was arrested on 6 November 2006 because of articles he had posted on his blog, in which he often condemned the government’s authoritarian excesses and criticised Egypt’s highest religious institutions, especially the Sunni university of Al-Azhar, where he studied law. He was sentenced on 22 February to three years in prison for “inciting hatred of Islam” and one year for “insulting” the president.

Egypt is on the Reporters Without Borders list of “13 Internet Enemies”. Read our weekly “blog review” and create your blog with Reporters without borders : www.rsfblog.org

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information: The Police Broke into a Journalist Blogger’s Residence Anxieties for a Torture Crime

Cairo On 14 April 2007

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information HRinfo expresses anxiety and fear for the life of the journalist blogger Abdel Men’em Mahmoud, in which on Friday dawn security forces in Alexandria broke into his residence to arrest him. The incident is a result to a campaign practiced by the police in Cairo and Alexandria to arrest 42 Egyptians suspected of belonging to the Muslim Brothers Group.

Security forces on Friday Dawn, broke into the residence of Abdel Men’em Mahmoud reporter of Al-Hiwar TV and administrator of the celebrate blog “Ana Ikhwan”
(http://ana-ikhwan.blogspot.com) to arrest him. However, Mahmoud was not home at this hour, and because he was tortured in a previous episode for 13 days before, he disappeared to make sure of the reasons for this campaign, which probably could be his activities in media coverage to police quelling practices against Muslim Brothers’ activists.

On the other hand, the 27 years old blogger Abdel Men’em Mahmoud has expressed to a friend his haziness between subjecting to torture similarly to 2003 incident
(” http://ana-ikhwan.blogspot.com/2007/01/25.html) and fearing of terrifying his aged parents by the police to force him to surrender. However, he received news of the large number of armed forced broke into.

In light of HRinfo’s condemnation to “Dawn Visitors” system practiced by security forces which, was practiced on a wide range previously against political opposition, it calls upon the Minister of Interior and the General – Prosecutor to provide reasons for this new incident.
However, the blogger is not a student or a member in what the Interior Ministry claims of a sport show held by some Muslim Brothers’ students to be a “military training” and his activities is concentrated on media and writing on his blog.

Moreover, HRinfo calls upon all civil society organizations and independent media to join forces to stop the unjust campaign against activist, students and academics did not practice any wrong just adopting different ideas, which is a guaranteed right to all.

In another occasion, HRinfo invites bloggers, journalists and activists to join forces with the assembly organized today at 5 pm before Journalists’ Syndicate, by bloggers carrying computers’ “keyboards” to declare their denial to arresting bloggers and join forces with Abdel Men’em Mahmoud the journalist blogger.

The Economist: Bloggers may be the real opposition.

(Hat tip: Anca R.)

THEY call themselves pyjamahideen. Instead of galloping off to fight holy wars, they stay at home, meaning, often as not, in their parents’ houses, and clatter about computer keyboards. Their activity is not as explosive as the self-styled jihadists who trouble regimes in the region, and they come in all stripes, secular liberal as well as radical Islamist. But like Gulliver’s Lilliputians, youthful denizens of the internet are chipping away at the overweening dominance of Arab governments.

[…]

Such pinpricks have yet to puncture the dominance of any Arab state. But with internet access spreading even to remote and impoverished villages, and with much of its “user-generated content” pitched in pithy everyday speech rather than the high classical Arabic of official commentary, the authorities are beginning to take notice. In February, an obliging Egyptian court fired a shot across the bows of would-be web dissidents by sentencing 22-year-old Abdelkarim Suleiman to four years in jail. A law student in Alexandria, he had strayed by penning bitter critiques of Egypt’s main centre of Islamic learning, al-Azhar university, and of Mr Mubarak, and posting them on his personal blog.

From Reporters Without Borders:

Call to French president to lobby President Mubarak about press freedom

Reporters Without Borders called today on French President Jacques Chirac to urge his Egyptian counterpart, Hosni Mubarak, to expand press freedom and release from prison blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman (“Kareem Ameer”) and journalist Abd al-Munim Gamal al-Din Abd al-Munim when Mubarak visits France on 15 April.

“Egypt throws journalists and cyber-dissidents in jail and censors what they write to stifle the media and online activity,” the worldwide press freedom organisation said. “Egypt is one of France’s main economic partners in the region, but this partnership must include discussion about democratic reforms, which are not being made through lack of political will.

“Mubarak’s government continually abuses press freedom by silencing independent voices,“ it said. “The president refuses to reform the press law and give more guarantees to media workers, whose job is made dangerous by the existence of 35 offences for which they can be sent to prison, including up to five years for ‘false news,’ defaming the president or foreign heads of state and ‘undermining national institutions’ such as parliament and the army.

Kareem Amer was arrested on 6 November last year after posting articles on his blog www.karam903.blogspot.com denouncing government abuses and criticising the country’s religious institutions, especially the Sunni Al-Azhar University, where he studied law. He was sentenced on 22 February this year to three years in prison for “incitement to hatred of Islam” and one year for “insulting” Mubarak.

Reporters Without Borders is also very concerned about Abd al-Munim Gamal al-Din Abd al-Munim, of the twice-weekly Islamist paper Al-Shaab, organ of the Labour Party (Hizb al-Amal), who was arrested by state security (SSI) agents at his home in 1993. He was tried that year in the prosecution of the Islamist group Talia al Fatah and in February 1999 in a case about people expelled from Albania, but was cleared in both. However, the authorities refuse to give any information about him.

Last November, Kareem wrote three letters while he was held in prison. Below is the translation of the first letter.

Many thanks to Ismail El-Naggar, who translated it to English. You can read the Arabic version here: رسالة من خلف القضبان.

A Letter from Behind Bars

I started writing these words shortly after I was brought back from the prosecution. I had been detained for two days at the cell of the Moharram Bek Police Station, after the General Prosecution ordered that an investigation be opened with me for my viewpoints published on the Internet. Today, the prosecution ordered my detention for fifteen days. Surprisingly, I’ve been detained at the same place with suspected drug dealers, drug addicts, thieves, and killers just for freely expressing my views. I had never taken into consideration that this may be regarded as a crime that would cause my detention in extremely poor conditions, unsuitable even for beasts and livestock. Such inhumane conditions are imposed by force upon a man whose sole fault is that he openly, frankly, and transparently expressed his inner self.

I am not sad! I will never let them have the chance to psychologically ruin me by such arbitrary acts, which are mastered only by idiots. Such idiots have rigid thoughts with no power to stand firm against any free thinking that challenges well-established truths. They resort to full violence and cruelty to suppress it – an expression of their inability to confront it with counter thinking. The aim is to silence the voice of birds singing outside their own herd. They will never achieve such a goal!

Day after day, this impotent trick, adopted by Al-Azhar University by employing its barbaric and foolish acts, proves that Al-Azhar is nothing but an environment that spreads backwardness and ignorance. In addition, it keeps urging people to be satisfied with their disgraceful conditions. This is done through discouraging them from thinking, through disrupting their minds, and through chasing those who use their minds in questioning what is illogically imposed on them.

I announce, from my detention cell, that nothing and no one will ever make me submit. Even when my hands are in chains and my freedom of movement is denied, this will only make me stronger and more stubborn in my confrontation with the enemies of mankind disguised under the cover of religion.

My day was hard indeed. I was transferred from the cell to the prosecution while my hands and the hands of two other prisoners were tied together in chains. One of my hands was released, and the other remained tied to the hand of one of the two prisoners unti the session came to an end. I was then brought back again to the cell. I cannot withstand the weather around me, as I’m detained at an underground cell that has only two windows. The breath of fresh air is an extremely difficult task through such windows. Furthermore, since my detention on Monday, I could not use the water closet because it simply does not befit human beings. However, all of this will never make me abandon, even for a moment, any of my convictions that I have expressed and which have lead to my imprisonment.

In the aftermath of my release last year, I wrote some words that I still remember: That the human being experiences plights and misfortunes that either make him submissive and weaken his stubbornness or that strengthen him. I’m fully certain that my current plight will, like its predecessor, make me more capable of confrontation and more stubborn in the face of the enemies of mankind, who are frightened by any free voice singing outside the herd.

Let them imprison me if they wish! They will never rob anything from me, for my freedom exists inside me. They will never deprive me of it regardless of how heavy their chains are, or how narrow their cells are.

Finally, I’d like to express my deepest thanks and gratitude to all those who expressed solidarity with me in my current plight. Special thanks are due to lawyer Rawda Ahmed, as well as the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information and its manager, Mr. Gamal Eid. From the depths of my soul, I thank my Bahraini friend Esra’a Al-Shafei, whom I heard had launched a Web site demanding my release. Moreover, from the depths of my soul, I thank my dear friend Dalia Ziada, who proved to be a real-life example of the proverb “some friends are brothers not delivered by your mother”. Every time I read her poems and remember her words, my belief and certainty that those who fail to say “no” do not deserve life increases.

I send my sincere greetings to Sahar, the one I fell in love with at first sight and who inspired me so much. Through her stances that reject all forms of male domination forced upon her and any female in life, I found that she is a rebellion that walks on two legs. She made me more convinced that the natural human is one who does not submit or tend to make others submit. I will never forget you, Sahar, no matter how long I will be spending my time behind bars.

Abdul Kareem Nabil Suleiman
November 8, 2006
The Civil Detention Cell, Moharram Bek Police Station, Alexandria

Kareem Amer was interviewed by Copts United after being investigated by Al-Azhar University for his online writings. As a result, he was charged with disdaining religions, insulting Al-Azhar’s teachers, and atheism. A few days later, he was formally expelled, and the Dean of the Sharia & Law Faculty, Dr. Hamdi Shalby, submitted a copy of the investigation documents to the Public Prosecutor.

The two videos below were recorded during his two-part interview. We have provided English subtitles and transcripts below.

(Thanks to Mina for providing the translation for the first video!)

Transcripts:

Interview with Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman, Part I

Following is a transcript from the first of a two-part interview with Egyptian blogger Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman, which occurred on March 14, 2006. You can view the video with English subtitles here.

Interviewer: The young thinker Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman: Welcome to Copts United. We welcome you, and we would you like to tell us about the investigation that was run today by the disciplinary board in Al-Azhar University. Go ahead.

Abdul Kareem Suleiman: Frankly, I wasn’t expecting you to label me as a thinker. I’m just a seeker of the truth. Thank you, you made me happy by your saying this, but I do not acknowledge that I am a thinker. I’m just a seeker of the truth. Today I headed for the college to attend the disciplinary board, and the lawyer Mr. Mamdouh Nakhla was with me. Our appointment was at 11:00 a.m. but we started a bit late, at 2:30 p.m. The investigation was initiated by four of the college professors: Dr. Abdul Hadi Zarea, Dr. Ra’fat Hammad, and two others.

Interviewer: Sir, we would like to know from you what the reason of the investigation is in the first place.

Abdul Kareem Suleiman: The reason of the investigation is some of my articles published on the Web sites of Modern Discussion and Copts United. There was an article in which I criticized Al Azhar University because of its segregation of male and female students; they accused me of insulting Al-Azhar University because of this article.

Interviewer: And is this wrong, or what?

Abdul Kareem Suleiman: Well, I am criticizing and expressing my opinion. I am trying to criticize. The purpose of…

Interviewer: That’s what I mean. To Al-Azhar University, is criticism wrong? As well as freedom of expression, or what exactly?

Abdul Kareem Suleiman: They prevent… In Al-Azhar, here in the university… In the end of the investigation, the told me that that this article is considered to be insulting and slanderous. They accused me of insulting and slandering, but I did not write anything of the sort. All I did was try to express my thoughts. I tried to criticize something I saw is wrong. But they interpreted it another way.

Interviewer: In a wrong way.

Interviewer: Mr. Abdul Kareem, we would like to know what exactly you are charged with.

Abdul Kareem Suleiman: I was charged with disdaining religions in general, and specifically Islam; as well as insulting and slandering the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar University [inaudible] and one of the professors of the college here [Sharia & Law Faculty]. That’s all.

Interviewer: Anything else?

Interviewer: Anything else?

Abdul Kareem Suleiman: And another charge, I don’t know from where they got it from: Atheism.

Interviewer: Atheism?

Interviewer: Mr. Abdul Kareem, we would like to know: How did the investigation end?

Abdul Kareem Suleiman: The investigation ended by my refusal to sign on my statements. Not out of fear; I told them everything. I was frank with them about everything. However, I refused to sign because I don’t recognize the legitimacy of the disciplinary board. I told them in the end that they don’t have the right to investigate me inside the college for an activity I exercised away from list of rules that should bind me only inside the university. They imposed on me…

Interviewer: A certain way of thinking?

Abdul Kareem Suleiman: Yes, indeed, they imposed on me a certain way of thinking, and they prevented me from even trying to think outside this framework.

Interviewer: What do you expect the result to be after the investigation? Or what will their judgment be?

Abdul Kareem Suleiman: In reality, I have been expecting confronting Al-Azhar University for a long time. From the time I entered this university, I felt it’s not my place.

Interviewer: It’s not your place?

Abdul Kareem Suleiman: Of course [it’s not my place].

Interviewer: Were these thoughts, Abdul Kareem, a reason for arresting you a while ago in Alexandria or not?

Abdul Kareem Suleiman: Of course. I was previously arrested on the 26th of last October [2005], following the events that occurred at the church of Muharram Bek, because I wrote an article criticizing some of the acts of the demonstrators in the Muharram Bek area. They tried at that time to attack the church, and they assaulted some of the Copts and [stole] their property. So, I was held for eighteen days, and I was released after pressure from human rights organizations and other international bodies.

Interviewer: Thanks to the young thinker, Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman, a second-year student in the Faculty of Sharia & Law at Al-Azhar University, Damanhour branch.

Interview with Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman, Part II

Following is a transcript from the second of a two-part interview with Egyptian blogger Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman, which occurred on March 14, 2006. You can view the video with English subtitles here.

Interviewer: This is our second interview with the young thinker Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman, a second-year student in the Faculty of Sharia & Law at Al-Azhar University, Damanhour branch, after taking a rest, and after he had calmed down after leaving the investigation. Mr. Abdul Kareem, welcome to our second interview. Could you provide us with an idea on the summary of today’s investigations at the Faculty of Sharia & Law?

Abdul Kareem Suleiman: The investigation began at around 2:30 p.m. It was about some of what was brought up in my articles that were published on the Modern Discussion and Copts United Web sites. Among the professors who investigated me were Deputy Dean Dr. Abdul Hadi Zarea and former Dean Dr. Ra’fat Muhammad Hammad.

I was asked some questions regarding opinions I had expressed in my articles. They saw that these opinions constituted exceeding their red lines. Of course, I do not recognize the existence of such red lines in the first place, and never in my life have I been limited by a red line. The only red line is my relationship with others. That is the only red line that I might accept to limit the freedom of the individual.

I answered them in all frankness. I cannot let go of my frankness for any reason. No matter what the price is, I cannot let go of it. This might cause me trouble but I shall never rest until I am frank and until I have a single personality.

For example, I could have denied all what had happened, and to, as they say, ‘play on words’ by pretending that nothing had happened. However, I’d lose myself. What would I have gained? What would I have gained when what’s inside me is one thing, and what’s outside of me, what I tell and face people around me with, is something else? I’d surely lose myself. Even if I were to have gained people, and if people were to encourage me and were to be impressed with me, in the end, I would not be pleased with myself this way.

Interviewer: Mr. Abdul Kareem, can you tell us what you were specifically charged with, and what your response to these charges was?

Abdul Kareem Suleiman: The disciplinary board accused me of three main charges. The first charge… They are ideological charges. It’s the first time for me to learn that an idea would be a charge. Today, when I went to the university, I learnt that I can commit a crime that does not have any physical effects: Thinking!

The first crime I was accused of committing was disdaining religions, and of course specifically Islam. I had not imagined that I would face a charge like this because it was never my intention to disdain any religion. The purpose of the existence of religions was to institute ethics that human beings can make use of in their lives. That was the purpose of the emergence of religions, regardless of how they were founded and what their origins are. Whether they are mythical or not is not our topic. I found them accusing me of disdaining religions.

The second charge: Atheism. I had written an article during the election period of the President of the Republic, titled “Pledge Allegiance to President Mubarak… As The Leader of the Believers!” The first paragraph of this article was interpreted by them as… Well, I was discussing in it the relationship between those with religious authority and those with political authority, and the ties that bring them together… That is, the benefits that bring them together. There are mutual benefits. For example, they monopolize the authority of deities. I employed a phrase that they used against me: I described god as ‘the imaginary being’. I did not mean it that way. Generally, in the view of some people, deities are imaginary, and there is no physical evidence to prove god’s existence. This does not mean that I am an atheist. I make my own point of view clear, and I write neutrally and stay away from claiming the existence of this god or that god. That was what I meant, but it was used against me.

The third charge they caught and used against me… It seems that they deliberately track down my mistakes. The most eloquent expression describing what they do is tracking down mistakes. They try to highlight my mistakes and bring anything against me. There was an article in which I criticized some of the policies of Al-Azhar University. I was discussing the idea of segregating male and female students. I described it as apartheid segregation, and indeed it is so, on the basis of the race of male students being separated from the race of female students. That generates problems. It gives them excessive repression, and each gender looks at the other gender as… Well, what’s forbidden is desired. They look at each other as strange beings, and as nonexistent in front of them, or not available for them. Once they get the chance, they tend to commit adultery. That was the topic I was handling.

I also criticized one of the doctors in a lecture who was teaching the students the invalidators of wudu [partial ablution]. In a blatant manner, he explained to the students wudu invalidators in an unethical way. So I criticized him, and they considered that to be insulting and slandering of this doctor.

There was also something else I had written about: When Dr. Muhammad Sayid Tantawy, the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, tried to produce a document pledging allegiance to President Mubarak during the election period of the President of the Republic, from the Islamic Research Academy members, which they refused to do. The disciplinary board considered that this writing is insulting and slanderous.

Interviewer: Mr. Abdul Kareem, do you expect to be referred to investigatory agencies, aside from the disciplinary board?

Abdul Kareem Suleiman: Well, in such a country where law is designed to serve certain aims, I do not rule out being referred to any agencies. However, this will not dissuade me from doing what I wish to do. It will not push me to leave the path I have begun to walk in. I shall walk in it in endlessness. In fact, it has no end. I don’t believe that this ideological way is ascending, but walking in it is endless. I’ll keep walking in it until I die.

Interviewer: Do you interpret the position of the university toward you as a personal one, or is it a public policy that aims to place many more restrictions on the freedom of expression, opinion, and belief?

Abdul Kareem Suleiman: In general, the policy of the university is one that denies the thinking of the ‘other’. It employs the policy of one opinion, one idea. It has no readiness to accept a differing idea to appear. Because of that, any idea that goes against its unidirectional ideas – that it wants to impose on its students – even if they do not publish on it… I have no publications inside the faculty or university, and my activities are almost completely limited to the articles I publish on the Internet. To be precise, the university aims to extract students’ minds. They do not want them to think. They want them to learn the material as it was brought down, and that they accept it and submit to it as it is. They cannot try to think of it, or to use their minds to think of it.

Interviewer: Thanks to Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman, a second-year student in the Faculty of Sharia & Law at Al-Azhar University, Damanhour branch.

Claudio from eternauti.it has taken the time to translate Kareem’s final blog post in October 2006: L’ultimo articolo di Kareem Amer in libertà.

Thank you, Claudio!

You can read the English translation here: Kareem Amer: “Your Blessings, O Azhar!”

L’ultimo articolo di Kareem Amer in libertà
Le “benedizioni di Al-Azhar

traduzione a cura di Condor57

L’essere umano può essere forzatamente vincolato a qualcosa, risultando incapace di liberarsene anche se rifiuta o addirittura odia questo qualcosa. Comunque, può sopravvenire un certo momento in cui può essergli garantito di affrancarsene senza alcun effetto ulteriore.

Raramente questa separazione si accompagna a risultati dolorosi o indesiderabili. Non di meno, non c’è dubbio che ciò possa accadere e quanto sta avvenendo a me, quello che sto affrontando in questi giorni, ne è un esempio.

Ho frequentato l’ateneo Al-Azhar per andare incontro ai desideri dei miei genitori. Alla luce del mio completo rifiuto del pensiero religioso e dei miei scritti che fortemente criticano l’infiltrazione religiosa nella vita pubblica, il suo controllo del comportamento degli esseri umani e tra di essi, liberarsi di questi vincoli nel mio essere un (ex) studente dell’Università di Al-Azhar, è stato ancor più difficile di quanto mi fossi immaginato.

Quando ho ottenuto la mia libertà – nel senso di essere stato espulso dall’università nel marzo 2006 – avevo pensato che quella questione fosse definitivamente chiusa e che con quel decreto mi ero affrancato dal vincolo dell’ateneo e dal suo autoritarismo, esercitato sia verso la vita degli studenti sia verso i membri della società sia verso la vita del nostro Paese a vari livelli.

Ignoravo che il quotidiano Al-Gomhuria avesse pubblicato copia dei fogli investigativi inviati dalla sessione disciplinare alla quale ero stato sottoposto – che per mia scelta non firmai – al Sostituto procuratore. Così come non sapevo che l’amministrazione universitaria non avesse comunicato che si era rifiutato di consegnarmi il mio fascicolo. Lasciai che la vita scorresse senza incanalarmi nel pensare a cosa sarebbe potuto accadere dopo quel fatto; questo alla luce del fatto che loro mi avevano espulso e quindi avevano tutto sommato chiuso la questione. Avevo pensato che quella era la fine della mia relazione con loro e mi dissi: lascio che si tengano il mio fascicolo. E infatti chiesi solo che mi venissero restituiti i miei documenti in originale, visto che ne avevo bisogno.

Comunque, sembra che la “benedizione” di Al-Azhar sui suoi studenti non sia facilmente rimovibile. Cominciano a seguire gli studenti come ombre. Per esempio, uno studente che ottiene il Certificato Azzarita di Secondo Livello non può farsi consegnare l’attestato per presentarlo ad un’altra università pubblica. Ho ripetutamente fatto richiesta quest’anno e negli anni precedenti alla mia espulsione, ma tutti i miei sforzi sono risultati vani. L’unico effetto di questo Certificato che sei riuscito ad ottenere è che ti dequalifica rispetto agli altri studenti, agli altri cittadini, che hanno un “semplice” Certificato Generale di Secondo Livello.

Sembra, peraltro, che l’imposizione di Al-Azhar sui suoi allievi non si limiti a privarli di completare i loro studi fuori da quella università. Ciò che è accaduto e ciò che mi accadrà nei prossimi giorni, mi ha pienamente dimostrato che queste “benedizioni” azzarite non abbandonano uno studente che cerca di ribellarsi contro l’università e che cerca di rifiutare quello cui è forzato a studiare – e che sono contro ogni logica, incitando alla violenza contro coloro che non vivono la stessa fede religiosa – fino a che è sull’orlo della tomba (esattamente quello che ho rischiato mi accadesse andando contro gli studenti della Facoltà di Legge Coranica, la Sharia, che sono andati vicino ad uccidermi con le loro “armi bianche (pugnali) nella loro cieca difesa della religione di Allah – come mi spiegò poi uno studente delle classi superiori – lo scorso maggio nei pressi della facoltà. Ad ogni buon conto, la provvidenza, alla quale io non credo, aveva previsto per me un nuovo “affitto” nella vita, per cui riuscii a scappare dalle loro mani) o fino a quando egli attraversa le porte della prigione. E questo sembra che sia quello che sto andando ad affrontare nei prossimi giorni, nonostante non mi piaccia ipotecare il futuro e parlare di quello che ancora non si sa, ma mi aspetto il peggio

Diverse ore fa mi è stata consegnata una citazione invitandomi a comparire per un confronto, lunedì prossimo, presso l’Ufficio del Procuratore, come conseguenza della denuncia presentata da Al-Azhar nei miei confronti per ciò che ho scritto e pubblicato fuori dalle loro mura, nel cyberspazio che non riconosce alcuna autorità su ciò che gli utenti vi pubblicano. Sembra invece che la benedizione di Al-Azhar, dalla quale pensavo di essermi finalmente affrancato dopo la documentazione liberatoria che avevo ottenuto, continui a seguirmi. La citazione del Procuratore relativa alle indagini nei miei confronti è una delle manifestazioni delle loro benedizioni, che non abbandonano mai coloro che segnano, come nel caso del Dr. Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd, spinto a separarsi dalla moglie, o del Dr Ahmed Sobhi Mansour, incarcerato e forzato ad espatriare definitivamente, o del Dr. Nawal Al-Saadawi, e di Ahmed Al-Shahawy ed altri ancora, dei quali Al-Azhar ha sempre “consigliato” – e continua a consigliare – il sequestro delle pubblicazioni proibendone la circolazione.

Non ho molta paura. Anzi, sono felice che i nemici del libero pensiero debbano impegnarsi nei miei confronti impiegando così bassi metodi – nei quali soltanto chi è intellettualmente disarticolato può eccedere – da rendermi più fiducioso, più solido nei miei principi e più pronto ad affrontare qualsiasi cosa per la difesa dell’esprimere le mie libere opinioni, senza alcuna restrizione impostami da governi, istituzioni religiose o addirittura una società totalitaria, che continuamente serve i vili metodi dei nemici del libero pensiero e degli appassionati del drogare le genti, sia con le religioni sia con vere e proprie droghe.

La sola esistenza di meccanismi legali che criminalizzano la libertà di pensiero, e puniscono con la prigione chiunque critichi la religione in qualsiasi modo, è già un grave difetto della legge. Si suppone che la legge debba regolare i rapporti tra soggetti all’interno di una società, non che sopprima le loro libertà a vantaggio della religione, della legge stessa o dell’ordine sociale. L’essere umano – l’individuo – è al primo posto, e la sua esistenza è sopra ogni altra cosa. Su questa base, criminalizzare l’essere umano per il suo criticare l’ordine sociale, la religione o l’autorità – che sono successive alla comparsa del primo essere umano – deve essere considerato un grave difetto delle leggi. E queste leggi vanno oltre i loro poteri di intervento nelle questioni relative alla libertà dei singoli, un’area sacra che nessun essere umano, a prescindere da chi egli sia, può violare.

Io quindi dichiaro, in tutta franchezza e chiarezza, il mio rigetto e rifiuto di qualsiasi legge, legislazione, regime che non rispetta i diritti degli individui e la libertà personale, e che non riconosce l’assoluta libertà d’azione degli individui – fino a che non lede altri sul piano fisico – e non riconosce l’assoluta libertà degli individui ad esprimere le loro opinioni, qualsiasi esse siano, su qualsiasi argomento e che non siano accompagnate da azioni fisiche dannose per altri. Allo stesso modo, io dichiaro in tutta chiarezza che queste leggi non mi vincolano in alcun modo ed io non riconosco la loro esistenza. Detesto, dal profondo della mia anima, chiunque lavori per attuarle, chiunque le usi come guide, chi trae soddisfazione o beneficio dalla loro esistenza. E se queste leggi ci vengono imposte, non abbiamo né il potere né la forza di cambiarle perché esse stesse sono utilizzate da chi gestisce il potere, e ne trae benefici. Non di meno tutto ciò non m spingerà alla sottomissione o nell’attesa del perdono e della rassegnazione

Io quindi dichiaro che non riconosco la legittimità dell’avviso di reato su un argomento come questo, che è parte della mia libertà di esprimere le mie opinioni. Questa libertà è stata sancita dalla Dichiarazione Universali dei Diritti Umani, che presumo sia stata sottoscritta anche dall’Egitto.

Comunque, anche mettendo da parte questa dichiarazione e facendo finta che essa non esista, o che l’Egitto non l’abbia firmata, i diritti umani sono una materia così evidente da non aver bisogno di nessuna legislazione che li regoli o li definisca nella loro essenza.

Ad ogni persona che gode di ciò che mi sta accadendo e che spera che così io possa cambiare le mie posizioni, possa sentirmi più debole, o possa spingermi su un sentiero diverso da quello che io ho scelto per me stesso, io dico: morite nella vostra rabbia e nascondetevi nelle vostre trincee. Non recederò, neanche di un millimetro, da ogni parola che ho scritto. Queste restrizioni non possono precludermi di sognare di ottenere la mia libertà, quello che è stato il mio desiderio sin da quando ero un ragazzo, e continuerò ad inseguirla per sempre almeno nella mia immaginazione.

E alla Università di Al-Azhar, ai suoi docenti, ai suoi studiosi islamici, che sono così solidi contro chiunque la pensi in modo libero, lontano dai loro pensieri metafisici e dalle loro superstizioni, dico: finirete tra gli scarti della storia e quando sarà il momento non ci sarà nessuno a piangere per voi. Siate certi che il vostro dominio scomparirà come è già successo ad altri come voi.

Felice è colui che recepisce i consigli altrui!

An interesting read: World’s ‘insult laws’ ensure that mum’s still the word.

Excerpt:

A report by the World Press Freedom Committee out today indicates that in spite of strides toward democracy and freedom worldwide, “insult laws” are still widespread. These laws make it a crime to insult public officials, or in some cases, to insult any individual, group or religion — a chilling influence on discourse worldwide.

The study was funded by Danish media leaders who know a thing or two about the virulence of insult and religious blasphemy laws. When the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published a group of editorial cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed in 2005, worldwide protests ensued. You might not have known that Danish Muslim groups also went to court, invoking blasphemy laws to punish the newspaper’s editors. The lawsuit failed, but publishers elsewhere were not so lucky. And the mere existence of these laws gave unfortunate legitimacy to the violent reaction against the cartoons.

Other recent examples:

*In Egypt, blogger Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman is serving a four-year jail term for insulting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and for “contempt of religion.”

*The Philippines’ “first gentleman” Jose Miguel Arroyo, husband of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, has sued more than 40 Philippine journalists under insult laws for reporting on allegations of corruption against him. Arroyo even sued one columnist for describing him as “the fat spouse,” which Arroyo said was “obviously meant to denigrate me for my rotundity.”

*In Russia, insult laws are a powerful tool for silencing dissent. When Kursiv, an Internet publication, joked that President Vladimir Putin was “Russia’s phallic symbol” because of his campaign to boost the birth rate, investigators raided its offices and shut it down, fining the editor under Russia’s insult law.

*Laws that make defamation and insult a crime persist in France, Germany and Austria. French media critic Philippe Karsenty was fined last year for defaming the honor of a state-owned TV station.

*Journalist Hrant Dink was murdered in Istanbul in January after being prosecuted repeatedly under a Turkish law that makes it a crime to insult “Turkishness.”

Global Voices Online discusses what factors have contributed to the increasing support the Free Kareem campaign has gained, and gives tips on campaigning for individual human rights abuses: Lessons from the Free Kareem campaign.

Even though the “Free Kareem” campaign has not yet achieved its primary goal of getting the 22-old blogger Kareem Nabel Sulaiman released from the prison where he is sentenced to spend the next four years for insulting Islam and the Egyptian president Hosni Moubarek, support for the case is growing rapidly, both online and offline. Even those who may not agree with the things he wrote on his personal blog — or the manner in which he wrote them — are expressing solidarity with Kareem by signing petitions, demonstrating in the streets, blogging about the case and adding his banner to their sites and blogs. Worldwide rallies designed to help “Free Kareem” have taken place in front of several Egyptian embassies around the globe and the case has caught the attention of both mainstream and citizen media.

The role that Global Voices has played in covering, supporting and amplifying Kareem’s case is obvious. Since the beginning, our team of editors and authors have been continuously translating and reporting what their respective blogspheres are saying about the case.

[…]

Lessons from Kareem

With such a complex mix of agendas and interpretations, however, it is perhaps more constructive to inquire about the “how” of this success. The lessons we can learn from this experience and from previous initiatives adopted by the highly organized and thriving Egyptian blogsphere [sic] are many. Here are a few of them:

• Setting up a standalone site or blog for each case is essential for a successful campaign. It serves as the public online face of the campaign; a space for providing information, updates, breaking news and links to other initiatives supporting the persecuted blogger or online writer.
• Showing photos of the individual and posting examples of his or her work (writings etc) helps personalize the case and puts a human face on the story. The person being persecuted or harassed is no longer just a name, but a human being and a focus for the public’s support and sympathy.
• In the era of Web 2.0, targeting blogging communities like Global Voices also helps guarantee success, since they help amplify the news and make it available to mainstream media and NGO’s who otherwise wouldn’t find them.
• Writing in English is crucial to reaching a wider community. Despite the existence of massive communities of bloggers writing in languages like Chinese, Persian, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, etc., English remains a dominant an influential language in the blogosphere. To quote the Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan: “If a news item isn’t written or printed in English…it has never happened.” *.

*We are Iran, The Persian Blogs, by Nasrin Alavi, Portobello Books, London, 2005, p. 344.