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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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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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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Bahraini activist Mohammed al-Maskati who leads the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights is a personal friend of this campaign’s organizers as well as Kareem Amer. He rallied for Kareem in December when he was first imprisoned without trial and helped make Kareem’s case known throughout the Arab world:

IFEX reports in a recent press release:

Mohammed al-Maskati is a young activist from Bahrain who has fought for human rights across the Arab world, from rallying for jailed Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer to making local media outlets aware of human trafficking activities. Now he is facing serious legal issues that could end his career. Show your support by signing a petition and expressing your outrage through your own organisations, media contacts or blogs.

Al-Maskati, head of Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights, is currently on trial for running an unregistered NGO. The Bahrain Center for Human Rights and other groups are supporting his case. The Arab Program for Human Rights Activists (APHRA) says it is just the latest example of the government using judicial measures to silence human rights activists.

APHRA is asking the Bahraini government to drop all charges brought against al-Maskati and to immediately release him. APHRA also invites authorities in Bahrain to revise their laws and regulations to be in accordance with the international conventions signed by Bahrain, including the international covenant on civil and political rights that guarantees the right to free association.

There is a petition for Mohammed here. Please sign it and spread the word.

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We have written many times about Shahinaz, or “Wa7da Masrya”, an Egyptian blogger and human rights activist whose efforts are unmatchable.

Shahinaz has contributed greatly to the Free Kareem campaign, giving us reports on his trials and after his official sentence, she was mainly delivering to us letters that Kareem wrote to her. She also made a couple of visits to Kareem to see how he is and to assure him that the fight for his freedom will continue. You may read such posts here:

- Kareem’s trial today

- Fellow Egyptian blogger visits Kareem in prison

- Latest letter from Kareem in prison

- Visit to Kareem in prison

- Latest visit to Kareem in prison

Global Voices Online recently conducted an excellent podcast with Shahinaz, where Kareem’s case and her visits to Kareem were also mentioned. Please listen to it here:

Interview with Wahda Masrya - An Egyptian Girl

There’s also a recent interview with her in French here.

The Free Kareem Coalition is honored to work with Shahinaz, who helped us overcome some of the biggest challenges in the campaign and helped us build a stronger network of supportive individuals. Her support is noted and is much appreciated!

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Following up on our previous article, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) just published a press release [Arabic] noting that blogger Hossam el-Hendy is freed.

Kareem, however, remains in prison and is undergoing torture. Please help by sending him a letter of support, and see our ‘what you can do’ page for more information on how you can help!

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RSF notes in an urgent press release:

Journalists and bloggers arrested and censored

Reporters Without Borders today strongly condemned the arrest of journalist Hossam el-Hendy at Helwan University, south of Cairo, as “an attempt to intimate all bloggers in Egypt” after officials there reported him to police for taking photos and sending messages about a demonstration on his mobile phone.

El-Hendy, 22, who works for the daily paper Al-Dustour and the website Eshreen (www.20at.com), was covering a 28 November protest that erupted when a speaker at a university conference on information technology said it was important to regulate online activity in Egypt.

The press freedom organisation also deplored the suspension on 21 November of the YouTube account of journalist and blogger Wael Abbas, who had posted scenes of police brutality towards suspects, and of his Yahoo! E-mail account on 29 November.

“Abbas is seen by the country’s bloggers as a key figure who alerts Egyptians to acts of torture,” it said. “If some of his clips are too shocking, YouTube can ask him to remove them, but suspending his account is excessive.” Abbas has suggested a parallel event to the Cairo Film Festival that would award a “golden whip” to the video of the worst example of police torture.

Egypt is on the Reporters Without Borders list of “enemies of Internet freedom.” One blogger, Kareem Amer, 22, is in prison for posting material online and has become a symbol of repression towards the country’s bloggers.

Also relevant:
‘Golden Whip’ for best Egypt torture video

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Kareem’s alarming case continues to be noted by the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX).

In their latest press release:

Egyptian bloggers, often at the forefront of exposing human rights abuses, are planning an online festival of torture videos to run alongside the 31st Cairo Film Festival, from 27 November to 7 December.

According to the “Middle East Times”, the parallel festival is the invention of a blogger named Walid, and will feature “controversial acts of torture allegedly committed by the security authorities.” Prizes, including a “Golden Whip”, will be awarded to the best entrants.

Egypt’s bloggers have exposed many incidents of police torture. In a rare case of security forces being sentenced for abusing detainees, two policemen got three years in jail for torturing a man in their custody earlier this month. Footage of the abuse filmed with a mobile phone was widely distributed on YouTube and sparked nationwide and international outrage.

But bloggers who are critical of the government can also find themselves as victims. Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer, who is serving a four-year jail term for insulting Islam and President Hosni Mubarak, has recently been tortured while in custody, reports the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRInfo). Amer, the first blogger to stand trial in Egypt for his Internet postings, has three more years left in his sentence.

Link to original article.

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Via the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (through HRINFO’s previously noted press release):

Since he was imprisoned, Karim has been subjected to systemic discrimination and mistreatment by Borg Alarb prison’s officers. He told his lawyer that the mistreatment is always coupled with the phrase, “This is until you change your mind!” This represents a threat to his life and compounds the difficulty of the already harsh sentence. The two organisations are calling for his transfer to another prison, where he can receive more humanitarian treatment and where his rights as a prisoner will be respected.

If you wish to contact Gamal Eid, executive director of HRINFO, for further information, you may do so through e-mail: info(at)hrinfo.net or gamal4eid(at)yahoo.com

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