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.

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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.

We welcome the Egyptian government to embrace this day by showing respect for freedom of speech and having tolerance for anyone who holds a different opinion or believes in a different faith (or chooses not to believe in anything at all.) Both of these factors are essential in any democracy, which Egypt should not dare call itself should it continue carrying out its human rights abuses.

How does Egypt define religious tolerance and human rights? Because the Baha’i faith is still unrecognized within Egypt. The Egyptian Baha’i minority lack the most basic rights because they cannot officially get their ID cards, the key to civil life in Egypt. As for human rights, people like Kareem are still in prison simply for expressing their personal opinions. Kareem’s 4 year sentence violates every definition of tolerance, free speech and democracy.

Is this really how Egypt wants to be viewed by the world?

Is this really what Egypt wants to put its citizens through?

Will Egypt admit that it’s operating under a merciless dictatorship?

When will Egypt correct these grave mistakes?

“I am very concerned about Kareem and the example Egypt is setting in the region by suppressing peaceful discussion of human rights concerns. It is time for President Mubarak to back up his stated support for democracy with action— by making the laws consistent with Egypt’s international human rights commitments, pardoning those who have been unjustly convicted, and ensuring that government officials and society respect these commitments.”

Kareem’s case is only one example of the deterioration in Egypt’s stated respect for human rights and religious freedom over the past year. Most recently, there have been serious concerns that Shaymaa al-Sayed, a Christian convert who was taken into custody by the Egyptian police, interrogated, and later released to her family – who beat her before driving her away – will be killed by them if the State does not intervene soon. In late May, five Koranists were arrested in Egypt. The letter addresses concerns related to several other religious groups, including the Baha’i, Jewish and Coptic Christian communities which have all experienced similar problems.

Read full press release here.

Dr. Mufti adds that if a person merely rejects Islam, there is no punishment against that and it should be left in the hands of God. It may only involve the judicial body should that person be actually harmful, an argument not in favor of Egypt’s ruling against Kareem Amer. What Kareem went through is a personal struggle between Him and God, and he is free to believe and express whatever he wants as long as it doesn’t preach violence, which Kareem is also innocent of.

Why, then, did Kareem get sentenced to three years in prison for “insulting” Islam, if the Koran specifically notes that he is free to do so and only God reserves the right and power to punish such person for sinning? Why does the Egyptian government take upon the role of God in this case, punishing whoever it wishes in the name of Islam? We at the Free Kareem Coalition respectfully demand a valid justification on the basis of Kareem’s sentence. Where in the Quran is this action supported? More importantly, where are the rest of the Muslim voices to condemn this grave misrepresentation and injustice?

We are Muslims. Our faith teaches us to live and let live. We are not afraid of criticism as it is normal nor should we allow our governments to play the role of God and make decisions that they don’t have the right to do. Our opinions are our own and we are free to express them, should they be against Islam then the decision is up to God to do as He wishes. The role of the government is to protect us, not imprison those they ideologically disagree with.

We kindly ask the Egyptian government to respect our individual freedoms, if not in the name of humanity, then at the very least in the name of Islam!

Read the article in Arabic here.

On February 22, the Egyptian court sentenced the 22-year-old blogger Abdel Kareem Soliman (aka Kareem Amer) to four years in prison for insulting Islam and president Hosni Mubarak on his personal blog. Furthermore, on the March 12, Judge Abdel Fattah Mourad, head of the Alexandria Appeal Court, upheld Kareem’s four-year prison sentence and prepared to launch a lawsuit to block 21 blogs and websites for “defaming Egypt’s image and insulting the president.” Hossam el-Hamalawy republished on his blog the following message from blogger Amr Gharbeia:

The list, 21-websites-long, includes the blogs and sites that took part in the discussion around the book the Judge has written, and the wide plagiarism evident in the book copying HRInfo’s report on Internet Freedoms in the Arab World, and a how-to-blog guide written by blogger Bent Masreya.

Of the 21 blogs and website, I was able so far to confirm Kifaya’s and HRInfo’s websites, in addition to the blogs of Bent Masreya, Yehia Megahed, and my own.

However, and despite the power and the unity that characterize the Egyptian blogshpere, many believe that the Egyptian regime, using the stratagem of sowing discord by condemning Kareem Amer, has succeeded in dividing Egyptian bloggers into two camps: the Islamists, who criticize the way Kareem was writing about Islam and Muslims and, in a way, support his condemnation; and the liberals, who are defending Kareem’s rights and campaigning for his release. According to Elijah Zarwan, a Cairo-based researcher for Human Rights Watch, “many of the people who defended Kareem in the Egyptian blogosphere strenuously objected, publicly or privately, to some of his writings. But they still defended his right to express his views. In any case, as the Egyptian blogosphere grows, it is becoming more reflective of the diversity and pluralism of Egypt itself. Kareem didn’t divide the blogosphere. It wasn’t unified to begin with.”

Read full article here.

“I am a Muslim and I am proud of this. However, I will never agree with your shameful practices against my friend Kareem Amer. Clear?” – Dalia Ziada

Dalia Ziada is a human rights activist and translator based in Cairo. She has been one of the most supportive of Kareem’s friends during his difficult times.

Dalia has recently learnt that a poem she wrote in support of Kareem has caught the attention of Egypt’s State Security Service. Consequently, her blog is currently among the 50 Web sites Kareem Amer’s appeals judge wants to be banned from Internet users in Egypt. (Learn more about this from HRINFO).

Despite being a devout Muslim, Dalia is being accused of contempting religion because of her poetry. So far, it seems they are only interested in blocking her blog. However, if the claim is transferred to a criminal court, she may be handed a minimum sentence of three years. The judge is also trying to have her Tharwa_Egypt Web site down because of a published article she co-wrote in support of Kareem.

Quite frankly, this campaign would have progressed little were it not for her efforts. In fact, it was Dalia arranged for Kareem Amer to have a lawyer accompany him to the prosecutor’s office last year. It was Dalia who helped us get in touch with Kareem’s lawyers. It’s Dalia who publicly expressed support for Kareem several times (for example, here, here, and here), and she verified our translations of his writings for the world to read.

It is due to this poem that Kareem’s appeals judge is getting her into trouble – she did nothing libelous or defamatory and was simply trying to assuage a friend while he was in prison.

Dalia: If something happens to you, the entire world is going to rebel against it, and we are willing to do everything in our power to ensure this fact. Our main mission would be to help you and Kareem.

Because Kareem was jailed without the authorities facing any consequences, they clearly feel they have the power to now silence more people they disagree with. This is why we need Kareem freed. He is a symbol for our liberty. As the saying goes, the only way evil will prevail is if good people do nothing. If the world remains silent, it will cost us dearly. Our silence would be a peaceful consent to the Egyptian government’s actions.

If you wish to express support for Dalia, please leave a comment on her blog. Let’s show the judge that we’re not going to allow anything to happen to our friend!

For further information on why Dalia is supporting Kareem, read an interview we conducted with her here.

In recent months, the Egyptian regime has jailed several bloggers, ending a period in which it had taken a more relaxed attitude towards internal critics. Human rights activists claim the about-turn follows the US administration’s decision to relax pressure on Middle Eastern governments to enact democratic reforms.

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In February, Abdel Kareem Nabil, 22, a former student at Egypt’s Islamic Al Azhar University, was jailed for four years for insulting Islam and Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, on his blog.
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Last month, another popular and outspoken blogger from the banned Muslim Brotherhood, Abdel Monem Mahmoud, was thrown into Egypt’s notorious Tora prison, where he remains today.

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Initial ambivalence on the part of government security agents changed in November, said Mr Zarwan, when a cellular phone video appeared on dozens of Egyptian blogs showing two police officers apparently sodomising a detainee with a rod. A public outcry ensued and the officers are being tried for torture.

Hossam Hamalawy, who writes a Cairo-based blog called 3Arabawy, said that, despite the crackdown, the bloggers are growing bolder.

“Some people are intimidated but overall it’s producing the opposite effect,” he said. “It is radicalising the blogosphere even more. We have bloggers joining every day.”

The first entry on Scripting News effectively ushered in the first blog 10 years ago. In the intervening years these online diaries have been touted as the future of media, labelled “pathetic drivel”, and caused court cases, prison sentences and international incidents. But love them or loathe them, bloggers around the world have ensured incredible growth for the medium. Latest figures indicate an estimated 70 million blogs in existence, with around 1.5 million posts being written every day.

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In China, 50 bloggers and “cyber-dissidents” have been imprisoned in the past eight years, and most recently a man known as Kareem Amer was imprisoned for three years in Egypt for insulting Islam and the country’s president, Hosni Mubarak, on his blog.

Correction: Kareem is sentenced to four years in prison, not 3.

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The rise of the blog also triggered the explosion of other sites on which ordinary people share their experiences, from social networks such as MySpace and Facebook to the video-sharing website YouTube. Keen says this “digital narcissism” is spurred on in large part by the Internet’s overemphasis of a libertarian political outlook, and a tendency to make individuals talk to themselves about themselves.

But he admits that there have also been some important contributions.

“Not every blogger is a narcissist who has nothing to say. In particular there are people in China and Iraq who are blogging – and that is very brave,” he said.

- Bobbie Johnson, technology correspondent

Read full text here.

Notes:
• The article below is an English translation of a blog entry Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman (alias: Kareem Amer) published on May 7, 2006, approximately two months after his expulsion from Al-Azhar University.
• The original text can be found below, or at his blog.
• This translation was produced by the Free Kareem Coalition, an interfaith alliance of young bloggers and college students committed to the principles of freedom of thought and freedom of speech.
• Distribution of this translation is encouraged.

An Adobe PDF file of this translation is available for distribution: Get PDF version here.

The University of Terrorism… And An Exposed Security Connivance

By Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman (Kareem Amer)
Sunday, May 7, 2006

I was not surprised when some security bureaus announced that one of those who executed the recent Sinai Peninsula bombings was an Al-Azhar University student from the Faculty of The Fundamentals of Religion. I am well aware that this university is one of Egypt’s important producers of terrorism through its academic curricula, with which it strongly fills students’ minds, and so turns them into human monsters that do not hesitate to harm whoever announces his disagreement with them. This is because their curricula have taught them – in all simplicity – that those who differ from them do not have a place in this life.

Until not long ago, I used to know about this in a purely theoretical manner, without entering into the midst of a practical experience with the university’s students or teachers from the field of material terrorism. Until a few hours before writing these lines, I did not expect to face a violent terrorist operation by those who study at that university, because generalization is harmful in all cases. Just as evil is present, so is good, even if in a quasi minimal state.

This unconsciousness continued to afflict me successively until this morning. I headed off to pick up my papers from the faculty; I was expelled from it by the decision of a disciplinary board about two months ago for freely expressing my opinions. From the moment I entered the door, I felt gazes of wreak and revenge in the eyes of every one who saw and recognized me. When I went to the student affairs office to request my papers, they asked me to wait for a short while because the employee in charge will be present soon.

During the sting of waiting, I decided to take a stroll in the faculty because it could be my last, and I could bid farewell to this ruined nest in which I tasted calamities during my years of studying in it. Once I passed in front of the door, a police assistant guarding the faculty sent to me some of his affiliates, who ordered me to head to the security cabin. I accompanied them, and was surprised with the aforementioned police assistant requesting that I leave the faculty because I’m not allowed to enter it.

I was shocked at this request. I told him that I did not come here wearing an explosives belt around my waist to blow up this place, but rather to pick up my papers because of my expulsion. He said that the employee in charge is absent today, even though I was told by some student affairs office employees that he would be coming in a short while.

Some security officials, including one in civilian clothes, were standing in the room during our quarrel. Students thronged in front of the door, and stared at me with their eyes as though they had found a rare archaeological masterpiece. One of the students shouted at me in an exaggeratingly angry manner, “Are you the one who wrote what’s being attributed to you?” I asked him to get away from me because I was not in a state that permitted me to engage in a discussion.

After the police assistant made some phone calls within the faculty, he informed me that my file was at the Legal Affairs office in Cairo to confirm the decision to expel me, and that I have to call the faculty from time to time before coming in order to learn whether the file had returned to its headquarters. I obtained from him the phone number, and then walked out of the faculty through the door designated for students.

The violent phase of this Azhar-shaped University’s farce did not begin when I glimpsed at the security official, who was inside, coming toward me with a cylindrical-shaped stick in his hand. At first, he took my hand under one of his arms and asked me to sit with him someplace to discuss something with me. Realizing the danger of this situation, I stripped my hand from under his shoulder and told him that I was in a rush, and that I needed to hurry home. However, he violently pulled me by my clothes, so I ran like the wind toward the back door of the faculty that I had originally exited from.

A university guard glimpsed at me and instantly told me to stay away because I’m prohibited from entering. I asked him, “Do you know what was about to happen to me?” He literally responded, “I know… But I did not see anything!”

At that moment, I clung to the door and asked them to bring me a taxi, because I could not leave under these circumstances. I waited for some time until the police assistant accepted my request. I accompanied him to the public street so I can wait with him to take any taxi ride to the bus stop at the west of the Nile Delta, and from there I would go to Alexandria. However, he asked me to take any other transportation means, and I refused because I couldn’t guarantee what might happen inside the vehicle. He told me, “We do not work for your parents,” and left me in front of the door.

I did not wait for long before I found a taxi coming toward me. I stopped it and asked the driver to take me to the bus stop. A student sat beside the driver, so I had to sit in the back seat of the car. The driver barely drove away from the faculty door when I found that about twenty students had surrounded the car from all sides, and with them was the security official who was dressed in civilian clothes. In their hands, I saw white weapons [knives], leather belts, and sticks. After forcing the driver to stop, they opened the back doors and forcibly attempted to get me out of the car, but I held onto my seat. They were threatening to kill me in a manner that I had not expected from students who have supposedly been receiving their education in a university. The other student then left the car, and the driver managed to escape them with difficulty. He asked me to get out of the car after driving a large distance from them.

I left the car and ran a sufficient distance from the source of danger, which seconds ago was about to have me killed. I rode another taxi, which took me to my destination. I returned safely, but with some minor scratches and bruises on my feet as a result of what happened with me.

I found myself enquiring: What did I commit so I would face such attacks? Is my mere disagreement with prevalent ideas a matter that requires attacking me and trying to kill me?!

It causes me grief when I find these youths being brainwashed in this manner, transforming into people who harm others for their mere disagreement with them in some of their points of view!

It causes us pity to find that one of our universities is turning into an institution for graduating all kinds of terrorists!

It causes us to cry, be grieved, and be struck with frustration to find ourselves threatened with death. Not because we kill. Not because we loot others’ property. Not because we transgress the limits of our freedom. But because we think!

Al-Azhar University does not move a muscle when one of its students blows himself up, or heads off to kill the defenceless innocents. Yet, it raises hell when one of its students has an independent, bold, and free opinion!

Today, and only today, I have realized the truth of the security forces’ connivance with religious extremism in Egypt. I learnt well how the regime lives on this terrorism, and that its existence is based on the existence of extremist groups, and the extremist (Al Azhar) university as well. This regime’s disappearance is necessarily coupled with their disappearance.

Original (Arabic) text:

Other translations: What Kareem Said.