On Wednesday, March 18, Omid Reza Mirsayafi became the first blogger to die at the hands of a prison authority. In the wake of Omid’s passing we read with interest a great deal of coverage of the circumstances surrounding his death. One in particular, an essay of remembrance by someone who knew him, was of particular note. However, one statement in the piece brought us up short.

Omid had asked the author to help attract attention to his case. The author consulted with friends who had, she said, more experience with such situations. Those friends counseled against attracting attention to Omid, advising that it would hurt him in the end. The author took that advice.

Anyone who has taken part in free speech activities on behalf of the imprisoned sooner or later, usually sooner, is given just this sort of counsel. Without fail, it comes from those inside larger human rights or governmental organizations and it is hard not to take seriously. After all, these organizations have money, expertise and case officers. Surely they must be correct. We have to confess, however, that when we were first given this counsel, it rubbed us the wrong way, so we spoke with a number of people we knew who had been inside the interrogation rooms and jail cells, people who had previous been where Omid was. And to a person, they said: The more attention, the more coverage, the more pressure, the better.

We subsequently launched Free Mojtaba and Arash Day, the first time the blogosphere had been used to raise awareness of unjust imprisonment of bloggers on a global level. It led to an enormous uptick in awareness of the issue in general and of these two Iranian bloggers specifically. Free Mojtaba and Arash Day was in the top five “memes,” or online topics, that year.

Harassment is the ground state of these places, these interrogation rooms, prison cells and torture chambers, not a result of attention. In fact, that is exactly what the villains who perpetrate these obscenities want you to think.

At the Committee to Protect Bloggers, we have occasionally been contacted by people who knew they were going to have to go in for interrogation and possible arrest. One of them was the Syrian poet and novelist, Ammar Abdulhamid, who has since left Syria to take up a position in Washington, D.C. as a non-resident fellow at the Saban Institute of the Brookings Institution.

“In times of trouble, activists and their families are often told to shy away from publicizing their ordeal,” said Abdulhamid. “They are advised that this is indeed the best way to make it short and to navigate back to safety. In my case, however, international attention eased my way to freedom. Without it, I might not even be alive today. Still, there are no hard-fast rules here, and the best thing that international supporters and sympathizers can do is to follow the wishes of the (effected person), when they can be reached, or the wishes of their family members and/or friends.“

At Free Kareem we have focused on one man as an example of all, Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman, also known as Kareem Amer, who, two years ago, was sentenced to four years in prison for critical writing that he posted on his blog.

Kareem Amer occasionally writes letters to a fellow blogger and good friend of ours, noting that the international support is one of the few things that kept him hopeful and sane in these tough times. Every time we received bad news about his case, we rallied hard and we were loud in the media. Shortly after each rally or letter campaign we receive positive remarks about Kareem’s situation, specifically after he has been tortured. So how can we assume that it doesn’t make a difference or that such efforts create a negative one?

We are not claiming that we’re responsible for all positive events that have occurred for Kareem, but we do not want to know where Kareem would be if it were not for the recognition and worldwide support that this campaign helped give him. We are very consistent with our efforts for Kareem and for this reason we know that the Egyptian government is threatened by it, as they have implied many times. We work hard because it apparently makes a great difference for our friend. Many people have asked us to stop. We never did, and Kareem himself wrote to us expressing his gratitude for that. Nothing else is more encouraging and reassuring than his own words asking us to continue for his sake and those like him.

Getting light and attention focused on persecuted bloggers is not like building a grand piano. It’s a simple, if demanding, task. Those who who tell us we must not agitate or the men and women we are trying to protect will be hurt wind up as accidental advocates for the torturers. All that matters is that we listen only to our brothers and sisters inside. If they, or their families, say we need to ease up, then we do. But that has happened to the two of us a collective grand total of one time.

Torturers torture because they love torturing. They do not do it for a reason. And they are far more likely to be stopped by their masters when their masters are in the cross-hairs than when they are left to operate in the dark.

In celebration of Human Rights Day, Al Jazeera is currently holding a discussion on human rights violations in the Arab world, with an emphasis on Egypt.

In the report that accompanied the discussion, Kareem was quoted as an example of a young person unjustly imprisoned for his opinions, and FreeKareem.org was featured.

We are in the process of tracking the video of this. Once we find it, we will share it here.

A great friend in San Francisco got involved within a day of hearing this news and managed to put something together in the very last minute for Kareem’s sake and the general cause of freedom of speech. She made great posters and stood in front of the Egyptian Consulate in San Francisco, California. We are extremely appreciative of her support! Here are some pictures:

A note from Peter Eyre, the rally’s organizer:

The rally in DC was a success. There were 18 freedom fighters who showed up to help spread the word about Kareem and vocalize their opposition to government-imposed censorship. Foot traffic in the area was moderate, and we handed out around 350 flyers.

I had a short conversation with an employee at the Egyptian Cultural and Educational Bureau (where the Free Kareem rally has been held the past three times as well, as the Egyptian Embassy is a bit off the beaten path). I wanted to communicate why were had gathered outside their property. He was surprisingly pleasant and in agreeable about Kareem’s right to free speech because, as he put it, he is a “human being” (he noted that he had himself moved to the U.S. to more fully enjoy his rights). I asked him to tell his colleagues and those he works for that we don’t support Egypt’s policy on this issue.

My colleague Drew got some footage from which the attached stills were pulled. I hope to put together a video on Kareem and the larger issue of free speech, similar to what we did for the DC gun ban case and the larger case for freedom in Heller Yeah!

(Click on each image for a larger picture.)

Our great thanks goes to Nicola Iannello, who in his capacity as a university professor and director of the School of Liberal Thought in Rome, managed to get this great rally together in an effort to free Kareem. Special thanks also go to Annalisa Chirico and Giulia Innocenzi (the 2 wonderful ladies in the first photo) who did a great job gathering people to participate in this rally.

Many thanks to everyone else who joined and made this possible! Two of the protestors were allowed into the Egyptian embassy in order to express their concern for Kareem.

Great pictures of the rally are below (Note: More from the organizers on this Facebook page.)

(Click on each picture for a larger image.)

Human Rights First has launched a letter campaign for you to request the release of 3 detained bloggers/activists. The letter will be aimed at the Foreign Minister’s recent visit to New York in order to represent Egypt in the United Nations General Assembly, despite the fact that Egypt clearly doesn’t believe in free speech or human rights. Please take a moment to get involved:

This week an Egyptian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit arrived in New York City to participate in the United Nations General Assembly. Even as these officials speak on behalf of their country, the Egyptian government continues its assault on free expression.

At this moment, three bloggers in detention are:

Mosaad Suleiman Hassan (better known by his pen name Mosaad Abu Fajr), novelist and activist from the northern Sinai, detained since December 26, 2007;

Mohamed Refaat, a 22-year-old student at Cairo University, arrested on July 21, 2008, whose detention continues under Emergency Laws. He faces accusations that include incitement of a strike;

Abdul Kareem Nabil Suleiman (a.k.a. “Kareem Amer”), a 23-year-old former student at Al-Azhar University currently serving a four-year sentence for views he expressed on his blog.

This year Egyptian authorities have arrested, detained, and prosecuted at least 20 bloggers, journalists, and activists. Using broadly-worded laws that criminalize insulting the president or religion, or harming Egypt’s reputation, and relying on Emergency Laws to justify prolonged detention, the government has clamped down on one of the most basic rights-the right to free expression.

Please call on the Egyptian authorities to release the bloggers currently detained and stop using vague, overly-broad laws to repress free speech.

The message to release these innocent detained individuals will be directed to:

Take action here.

This letter is by Rebecca Witonsky, a longtime supporter of Kareem, who expresses her concern at the fact that the U.S government has not taken any effective steps in attempting to free Kareem and in fact continues to politically and financially support the Egyptian government, which has consistenly abused people’s human rights within the country.

Dear Kareem:

I have not forgotten about you. I am appalled that the U.S. government, my democratic government, has abandoned you to the clutches of the tyrannical Mubarak regime. Sadly America’s democratic principles don’t seem to apply consistently beyond our shores, and we take our freedom for granted, not realizing the sacrifices that brave young people like you are making around the world for the sake of basic justice.

I am outraged that you have been beaten and denied access to books, sunlight, and exercise. This type of cruelty is completely immoral and intolerable. It is a reminder that your oppressors are afraid of you. They wouldn’t be subjecting you to such brutal treatment if they didn’t fear the ideals for which you so bravely stand. Your continued imprisonment under brutal conditions is a constant reminder of the injustice which undergirds the whole Mubarak regime.

I stand with you in solidarity because I couldn’t imagine being completely disowned and abandoned by my own parents. You deserve the support of free people everywhere.

Sincerely,

Ms. Rebecca Witonsky
USA

Rebecca’s concerns have been echoed by thousands of other American supporters for Kareem, which hopefully soon, will be taken very seriously by both Egypt and the U.S government.

This week on Listening Post: How the Egyptian government are keeping tabs on internet use, and punishing those who are accused of misusing it.

We have a special report on the case of imprisoned Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer. Jailed in 2006 for, apparently, “inciting hatred of Islam” and “insulting” President Hosni Mubarak, Kareem’s case has thrown into stark relief the power of the state to exert control over new media. And what effect is this case having on cyber dissidents still operating in Egypt?

Kareem was featured on the Listening Post three times in total, this being the third round of coverage:

In Newsbytes, we revisit the case of imprisoned Egyptian blogger, Kareem Amer and the new laws that the Mubarak government is employing to keep tabs on internet users. We report on Ingushetian journalist, Magomed Yevloyev, who was shot in the head whilst in Russian police custody. Finally, still in Russia, we see how prime minister and self-styled Action Man figure, Vladimir Putin, supposedly acted the hero when he shot a predatory Siberian tiger dead.