Thanks to Bridget Johnson, a nation/world news columnist at the Daily News of Los Angeles: Imperiled bloggers best hope for free speech in Arab world.

An excerpt:

Back during the Muhammad cartoons controversy, Egyptian Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit spearheaded the country’s mediation role, urging Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen to not prosecute Jyllands-Posten but issue “an official Danish statement underlining the need for and the obligation of respecting all religions.”

When the religious controversy happened in their own nation, though, the Egyptians were more than happy to prosecute, showing little respect for a secularist who voiced disagreement with tenets of the Islamic society.

Egyptian blogger and 22-year-old student Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman, who wrote online under the pseudonym “Kareem Amer,” was sentenced to four years in prison last week for “inciting hatred of Islam” and criticizing President Hosni Mubarek. Ironically, this is the same president who three years ago promised to reform the system that punishes journalists for their work.

Prosecutor Mohammed Dawoud accused Kareem of being an “apostate” who “has hurt every Muslim across the world,” reportedly telling The Associated Press, “I want him to get the toughest punishment. I am on a jihad here … If we leave the likes of him without punishment, it will be like a fire that consumes everything.”

The blaze of which he complains consisted of Kareem’s views against what he saw as unchecked radical Islam. Kareem, who wrote of the desire to become a human-rights lawyer to help women in Arabic societies, decried extremism being taught at his university and harshly criticized Muslim attacks on the Coptic Christian population.

The Web site FreeKareem.org was set up by many Muslims who were personally offended by Kareem’s writings but felt they must stand up for free expression.

“You may be disgusted at what he said, even angered,” wrote the campaign founders in a recent post. “That’s okay, so are we! But we will defend with all our might his right to express such opinions, because it is his basic human right that none of you have the right to … take away.”

Kareem’s imprisonment will not be the last, unless the freedom-loving global community takes a stand and says, “We’re not willing to live like that!”

So what action should be taken? First, Egypt is bucking to host a stage of the United Nations-sponsored Internet Governance Forum in 2009. Unless Kareem is freed and press rights guaranteed, the U.N. should thumb its nose at Egypt’s inclusion.

Everyone should also send a letter protesting Kareem’s imprisonment to the Egyptian Embassy, embassy@egyptembdc.org, and the White House should lobby directly to Mubarek on Kareem’s behalf. And, last but not least, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights should immediately get involved to free Kareem – perhaps this sketchy U.N. body can finally earn its keep.

True democracy in the Arab world starts with these brave bloggers. Turn our backs on Kareem, and we turn our backs on everything for which we’ve been fighting.

Read it all here.

Thank you Bridget!

An excerpt from the Index on Censorship:

Egyptian blogger sentenced to four years imprisonment
John Hendel

A 22-year-old Egyptian blogger named Abdul Kareem Suleiman Amer assumed the handle ‘Kareem Amer’ on his blog a long time ago but now people from around the world know him by this name. His blog writings, in favour of secularism and women’s rights, led to his expulsion from al-Azhar university in early 2006 and solitary confinement in prison since November. This morning an Alexandria court sentenced Kareem to four years in prison for criticising Egyptian President Mubarak and insulting Islam

Police arrested Kareem on 6 November on charges of inciting hatred of Islam, defaming the president and spreading rumours likely to disturb the peace. His trial underwent repeated delays and he had faced potentially as many as eleven years in prison for the blog writings. Blog postings also caused his arrest and detention for 12 days in October 2005.

‘The state of freedom of expression in Egypt is getting worse one day after the other,’ said Dalia Ziada, a Cairo-based human rights activist and translator who helped secure Kareem a lawyer for the trial. She called Kareem’s case a ‘severe violation to freedom of expression in Egypt.’

Protestors around the world shouted down Egyptian embassies on 15 February during what they called ‘Free Kareem Day’. The group’s website describes demonstrations in London, Bucharest, Rome, Berlin, Ottawa, Paris, Washington DC, Chicago, and New York. Other demonstrations have occurred in Stockholm and Bahrain and US Congressmen and Italian MPs have written letters protesting Kareem’s detention. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Reporters without Borders have condemned the arrest.

As previously mentioned, Kareem has been selected as a nominee for one of the 7th Annual Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards, which are intended to honor the world’s champions of freedom of expression.

Thanks to everyone who sent us links to media outlets.

Major Media Outlets

CNN: Egypt blogger jailed for insults

“I was hoping that he would get a harsher sentence because he presented to the world a bad image of Egypt. There are things that one should not talk about, like religion and politics. He should have got a 10-year sentence,” said lawyer Nizar Habib, who attended the trial as a member of the public.

BBC: Egypt blogger jailed for ‘insult’

During the five-minute court session the judge said Soliman was guilty and would serve three years for insulting Islam and inciting sedition, and one year for insulting Mr Mubarak.

TIME: The Blogger-Martyr of Egypt

In his blog, Kareem predicted that he would get into trouble with the law for his views. Still, he insisted on his right to freedom of expression and made no secret of his disgust for the laws that govern the system and restrict his liberties. He warned Al Azhar scholars and professors that they would end up in “the garbage of history.”

Associated Press: Egypt blogger gets 4 years in prison

The Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based media rights group, said Internet writers and editors are the fastest-growing segment of imprisoned journalists, with 49 behind bars as of December.

“With this verdict, Egypt has opened up a new front in its efforts to stifle media freedoms,” said Joel Campagna, the group’s senior Middle East program coordinator.

CBC: Arab governments wake up to threat of blogging

Blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil, 22, has been in detention since November on charges of insulting Islam and causing sectarian strife for writing that is critical of Islamic authorities.
His trial, which began in January in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, is the first trial of a blogger in Egypt.

[...]

There are now 26 million internet users in the Arab world and 40,000 Arabic blogs, according to a report by the Initiative for an Open Arab Internet.

Sawsen Zaidah, a Jordanian journalist who produces the program Eye on the Media, says blogging is appealing because it is not as heavily controlled as traditional media.

Al-Jazeera English: Egyptian blogger sentenced to jail

A blogger attending the trial who goes by the name “Sandmonkey” said: “It’s a dangerous precedent because it will impact the only free space available now, which is the internet. The charges were undefined and vague.”

Coverage of the trial has even reached Iceland and Denmark.

More media coverage from Google News.

Blogosphere Coverage

Amira Al-Husseini provides an excellent summary of the reaction of the blogosphere on Global Voices Online: Arabisc: Bloggers Rally to Kareem’s Support

When Kareem was first detained in early November for this writings, many bloggers in the Middle East tried to distance themselves from the case because they did they did not want to be associated with blasphemy against Islam. Today, while some condemn the sentence as an attack on freedom of expression, others believe the blogger got what he deserved for swimming against the tide.

[…]

Egyptian blogger Sharaqwi calls for a campaign to release Kareem and promote freedom of expression in his country.

الحكم مقلق وضد حماية حق الرأى والتعبير وممكن يبقى بداية لسجن النشطاء بتهمة أهانة الرئيس..
يسقط يسقط حسنى مبارك………
مش عاوزينة مش عاوزينه.. مهما يقولوا اننا بنهينه
مطلوب حملة تضامن مع كريم والدفاع عنه وعن حرية الرأى والتعبير،
وهنسيبنا من أى دعاوى اننا بنتضامن مع مدون كافر..
احنا بنتضامن مع مصرى منتهكة حقوقه.

“The sentence is alarming and against freedom of expression. This could also be the beginning of imprisoning activists for insulting the president. Down Down Hosni Mubarak.. We don’t want him.. we don’t want him.. however much they say we insult him..What is required now is a campaign to support Kareem and defend both him and freedom of speech. And let’s not argue about whether we are supporting an atheist blogger. We are supporting an Egyptian who is being denied his rights,” he explains.

[…]

American blogger and a supporter of Kareem Dr Tom Palmer insists that the sentence will not go unchallenged.

“This will not go unchallenged. His case is the case of every blogger, every dissident, every person who aspires to life as a free citizen. My sincere thanks and recognition to all who have helped the cause of free speech and the case of Abdelkareem. Please be ready to act again, respectfully and with dignity, in the hope that this grave miscarriage of justice will be corrected, perhaps in a way that will allow the Egyptian authorities to do the right thing and save face,” he writes.

Another American blogger Doug Mataconis wonders what his government’s reaction to the sentence would be.

Keep in mind. An American ally and supposed example of moderate Islam. And what has the Bush Administration had to say about this travesty ? So far, nothing:

The Bush administration has not commented on Nabil’s trial, despite its past criticism of the arrests of Egyptian rights activists.

We’re waiting Mr. President.

[…]

Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif, who is himself facing a defamation case in a Bahraini court, was also quick to the defence of Kareem, describing today as a sad day for freedom of expression.

“And if Egypt leads, the Arab world are supposed to follow, right? So the arrest, detention and jailing of people for simply writing their thoughts is forging ahead unchecked in the Middle East… and there doesn’t seem to be any will whatsoever for anyone to stop it, even for a moment, to think of what that is going to do for this and future generations.

Yet another reason for one to maintain their anonymity at all times.
Big brother is not just watching, but is waiting to pounce at the slightest chance to silence critics in the full sight of the world and even they are not interested in doing anything about the situation,” writes a concerned Al Yousif.

More blogosphere coverage on Google Blog Search.

UPDATE: Der Spiegel, Europe’s biggest and Germany’s most influential weekly magazine, has published Kareem Amer’s case: Four years detention for Blogger in Egypt. (Hat tip: 404)

Despite a very sad day, we have good news from London: Kareem has been selected as a nominee for one of the 7th Annual Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards, which are intended to honor the world’s champions of freedom of expression.

In an e-mail message from the Index on Censorship:

We at Index on Censorship have selected Kareem Amer as one of our shortlisted nominees for the Index Awards Ceremony 2007 in the category of Journalism. Each category consists of four individuals and the winner will be announced on 14 March at LSO St. Luke’s in London. You can find some more information at Index’s central website for the moment, www.indexonline.org.

Stay tuned.

David Smith from The Observer, a United Kingdom Sunday newspaper, wrote about Kareem Amer’s case.

(Source)

Irrepressible.info, The Observer’s joint campaign with Amnesty International calling for freedom of speech online, now has the support of almost 62,000 people around the world. Attention has shifted to Egypt where, last November, Karim Amer was detained by the authorities because of political writings on his blog.

Amer will learn on Thursday whether he faces 10 years in jail, following a trial that has been condemned by human rights groups. He is the first person to be prosecuted in Egypt for online writings; observers fear this may mark a new clampdown on freedom of speech.

Amer, 22, a former student at al-Azhar University, wrote blog entries criticising Egypt’s al-Azhar religious authorities, President Mubarak and Islam. Charges against him include ’spreading information disruptive of public order and damaging to the country’s reputation’, ‘incitement to hate Islam’ and ‘defaming the President’.

His lawyer, Gamal Eid, said last week: ‘I am very pessimistic about the verdict, but I have great hope for the appeal.’

Malcolm Smart of Amnesty International said: ‘Karim Amer’s trial appears intended as a warning by the authorities to other bloggers who dare criticise the government or use their blogs to spread information considered harmful to Egypt’s reputation.’

Please support free speech for everyone by signing the Internet freedom pledge at Irrepressible.info.

From the man who made this possible: Constantino -

Hi All,

The rally went well. We were few, but we managed to hand out about 100 fliers to passerby. One Egyptian cab driver who rolled down his window to get a flier asked me, as I approached him, “So what did my government do now?!” Then he honked his horn in solidarity while he waited for the light to turn green.

[...]

We turned our signs to them and started yelling “Free Kareem.” They immediately closed the drapes… but we still caught them peeking out every now and then. A few minutes later, a car with diplomatic plates pulled up right in front of us. They were bringing catered food to the consulate. I tried to give the guy my letter, but he wouldn’t take it.

I should also point out that several people said they had heard about Kareem’s case, and wished us luck. All in all, I think we at least managed to send the message that Kareem is not alone, and we also got to share the information with more people.

I pray that this will all be over tomorrow, and that our friend will be acquitted and set free. But we are definitely keeping the signs in case we need them again. They will hear from us again if they don’t release him. And next time we will do a better job at organizing.

Major thanks goes to Chris Kilmer as well, who contributed a lot to this rally.

Please take the time to read Constantino Diaz-Duran’s great article which has been featured in the Columbia Spectator.

And, again, thanks to Constantino’s great efforts, a rally will be taking place tomorrow.

It’s not very often that you find a person who takes the time and effort to write press releases, start groups on social networking sites, alerts other bloggers, professors, and students, puts together a great op-ed piece, and organizes a rally in just one week for the sake of a young man he hasn’t even met. And it’s even less often that you find a person who is actually willing to drive for 9 hours just to attend this rally, which is what Mohammed Shouman thought of doing.

It is only through the efforts of such people that we are able to make Kareem’s case not only known but taken very seriously. Thank you, you’ve done an amazing job at proving that true supporters of freedom of expression can actually contribute to positive change, no matter where you are. I am positive that Kareem will be very proud to have such admirable people by his side.

On that note, we’d also like to thank Tom Palmer for alerting others about Kareem whenever the chance arrives.

Good luck with the rally, guys! And let us know how it goes.

A very recent article about Kareem on Human Rights Watch -

(Cairo, January 27, 2007) Egyptian authorities should immediately drop all charges filed against a blogger for his online writings and release him without delay, Human Rights Watch said today. The trial began on January 25 of `Abd al-Karim Nabil Suleiman, better known by his pen name Karim Amer, the first Egyptian blogger to be tried for the contents of his blog. He faces up to nine years in prison.

Suleiman, a 22-year-old former student of Islamic jurisprudence at Al-Azhar University, appeared before a public prosecutor on November 7, 2006, following a complaint from the university, to answer charges of spreading information disruptive of public order, incitement to hate Muslims, and insulting the president. He had frequently posted articles criticizing Islam, the authorities at Al-Azhar, and President Hosni Mubarak on his blog. Prosecutors ordered him detained pending investigation and renewed his detention four times before his trial opened at Muharram Bek Court in Alexandria on Thursday. The judge is expected to rule on the case when the court reconvenes on February 1.

Charging someone for the peaceful expression of their views is sadly not new in Egypt, said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. By curbing a blogger’s freedom to post, the government may be trying to close an important space for Egyptians to speak openly about events and issues that worry them.

Plainclothes security agents first arrested Suleiman on October 26, 2005 at his home in Muharram Bek, a district of Alexandria that days earlier had been the site of deadly sectarian riots, and held him for 12 days without charge. Four days earlier, he had posted comments on his blog criticizing the Muslim rioters and Islam. In March 2006, a disciplinary board at Al-Azhar found him guilty of blaspheming Islam and ordered him expelled from the university.

The charges against Suleiman stem from laws that contradict guarantees of free expression under international law. Article 102(bis) of the Penal Code allows for the detention of whoever deliberately diffuses news, information/data, or false or tendentious rumors, or propagates exciting publicity, if this is liable to disturb public security, spread horror among the people, or cause harm or damage to the public interest. Article 176 of the Penal Code allows for the imprisonment of whoever instigates discrimination against one of the people’s sects because of race, origin, language, or belief, if such instigation is liable to disturb public order. Article 179 allows for the detention of whoever affronts the President of the Republic.

Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Egypt became a party in 1982, guarantees the right to freedom of expression, including the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media.

Article 19(3) of the ICCPR allows restriction of expression only in limited circumstances, namely in the interest of respect of the rights or reputations of others or the protection of national security or of public order (ordre public), or of public health or morals. Such restrictions must be necessary. These exceptions are narrowly framed, and the burden of demonstrating their validity rests with the state, which must justify any content ban by showing that restrictions are necessary to achieve a specific and legitimate purpose within one of the enumerated exceptions.

The Egyptian government should immediately drop all charges against Suleiman and release him, Whitson said. Suleiman is guilty of nothing but peacefully exercising his right to free speech. Instead of trying a blogger for exercising his rights to free expression, the government should repeal or amend the laws that abridge those rights.

Joint Letter Urges Egyptian Government to Release Young Web-blogger Imprisoned for Criticizing Radical Islam -

January 24, 2007 – Congressmen Trent Franks (R-AZ) and Barney Frank (D-MA) today wrote Egyptian Ambassador Nabil Fahmy regarding the arrest and imprisonment of Abdelkareem Nabil Soliman Amer, a 22-year-old resident of Alexandria, Egypt. Mr. Amer criticized the radical Islam expressed by his professors at Al Azhar University, where he was a law student, as well as in society more generally in a personal weblog. Before his arrest, he was kicked out of Al Azhar for his opinions.

Franks said, Democracies must allow for freedom of speech and certainly for the tolerance of diverse religious beliefs. I laud Mr. Amer’s recognition that violence in the name of religion is unacceptable. I urge the Egyptian government to free Mr. Amer and to protect its citizens from persecution.

According to reports, Mr. Amer is the first blogger the Egyptian government has put on trial for his writings. While he faces up to nine years in prison, other bloggers have been released without charges; however, unlike the other detained bloggers who concentrated on politics, Mr. Amer wrote often on religion. In late 2005, Mr. Amer was briefly detained after posting a commentary on riots in which angry Muslim worshippers attacked a Coptic Christian church over a play put on by Christians deemed offensive to Islam.

Congressman Franks is serving his third term in the U.S. House of Representatives, is a member of the Committee on Armed Services, Committee on the Judiciary, is Ranking Member on the Constitution Subcommittee, and is a co-founder of the Task Force on International Religious Freedom (TIRF).

Link to the above press release.

Daily Star Egypt features this article about a protest for Kareem on its front page -

CAIRO: A rally was held Friday in front of the Egyptian embassy in Washington DC to call for the release of blogger Abdel Karim Soliman Amer, who has been detained by security forces since November.

Organized by a group called the DC Coalition for Blog Freedom, the rally urged the Egyptian government release Alexandria native Amer and protects his right to free speech.

A statement by the group said “Because of the urgency of his plight, DC-area residents of diverse backgrounds are staging a peaceful rally in front of the Egyptian Embassy’s cultural affairs branch in DuPont Circle to defend Amer’s right to blog freely and to call for his immediate release from jail.”

Although the protestors presented a petition to an embassy official who came out to meet them, when The Daily Star Egypt contacted the Foreign Ministry there appeared to be no plans to take any further steps concerning the matter.

Amer, 22, was a student of Al Azhar University, but was expelled last March and then arrested on Nov. 7 for writings on his internet blog, where he allegedly criticized religion.

He is currently detained in Al-Hadra prison in Alexandria on charges of having defamed the Egyptian government, “Spreading data and malicious rumors that disrupt public security”; “defaming the president of Egypt”; “incitement to overthrow the regime upon hatred and contempt”; and “incitement to hate ‘Islam’ and breach of the public peace standards.”

Local activists and human rights organizations have previously told The Daily Star Egypt that bloggers who cover religious or sectarian issues are more likely to be targeted for arrest.

In a press release issued on Nov. 11, the organizations called upon the Egyptian government to immediately release Amer.

“The arbitrary accusations against Karim Amer indicate the authorities’ inclination to detain Kareem simply for expressing views contradictory to theirs. The public prosecutor told Kareem that if he did not abandon his views, even though personal, he may be imprisoned,” representatives from the organizations argue.

According to Dalia Ziada from the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, the investigator told Amer that “he should reconsider his secular opinions and change his mind in order to be able to get out of jail. When Karim insisted on his right to freedom of expression, the investigator ordered his re-detainment for another 15 days with the hope that the stay in prison might push Karim to change his mind.”

The Daily Star Egypt had previously attempted to contact the Ministry of Interior concerning the status of Amer. Several faxes of queries have not been answered and a ministry official who answered a request for a phone interview declined to comment.