The Free Kareem website has been on a hiatus for a short while as we were very busy planning a set of actions that will be carried out on the 22nd of February. We expect many people around the world to be involved on this day, which is intended to bolster support for Kareem Amer.

Why the 22nd of February?
This is the day that Kareem’s sentence was finalized and announced. You can read all the posts we wrote last February here.

Has he spent one year in prison?
No, Kareem has spent more than a year in prison. As our Kareem counter shows, he has been in prison for 466 days now, since the 6th of November.

How is Kareem doing?
The last letter indicated that Kareem was doing much better than he was in previous months. However, it has been at least 3 weeks since we last heard from him, and we are not sure what could’ve happened since then. We are doing our best to remain in close contact with him, although we are not certain whether or not our letters are actually reaching the intended destination. Close friends will do their best to visit him soon and we hope to write an update concerning his status.

What is a worldwide op-ed day?
We are trying to get as many people as possible, in many different parts of the world, and in as many different languages, to write about Kareem in their local papers (whether it be student papers or internationally distributed and respected papers such as the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NY Times, and more. Op-ed is short for “opinion/editorial,” and authors/journalists who publish articles in such columns tend to be more personal and opinionated than the average report. If we succeed in getting the intended number of papers involved, this will be a very powerful step for the Free Kareem campaign.

Why are you holding a worldwide op-ed day for Kareem?
Our strategy is intended to put Kareem’s story back in the papers. Due to lack of updates, and general lack of awareness, a lot of people seem to have forgotten about Kareem’s case. We are doing our best now to alarm everyone around the world that Egypt cannot be respected if this young man is still being unjustly imprisoned.

What can we do on the 22nd of Feb?
You can involve yourself by posting a message for or about Kareem on your blog, website, journal, or if you’re in the area, attending a rally that will take place in the 3 following locations:
- Paris, France
- London, UK
- Washington DC, USA

We have chosen 3 strategic locations as opposed to conducting a worldwide rally this year. The reason for this is that we are trying to shift our strategy a bit and focus more on media-related events that will put Egypt back on the human rights agenda. We will resume with our worldwide rallies when we feel that the time is more appropriate.

Please contact us if you would like to find out more information concerning these rallies (or our future activities in general.) We are working hard on making this all possible for Kareem and we will soon follow-up with an update.

We were just made aware that Kareem’s case was discussed in a Danish radio show which you can listen to here.

A few weeks ago, we shared with you an exceptional portrait by a young high school student who wanted to express his support for Kareem via art. You can view the artwork and the author’s description here.

Kenny has written us back with an update:

At the local art-show where “Kareem” was exhibited lots of people truly enjoyed it and asked me about Kareem’s story. Yet, there also were people who felt uncomfortable with the image at the show. I don’t know exactly why. None of these people have spoken to me. To make it short: Kareem was later hung aside from the “eye-catcher wall” due to the “Provocation” felt.

Currently, Kenny’s taking part in a competition where he’s applying his portrait of Kareem. Please vote for this artwork here! It will significantly help increase awareness and support for Kareem.

Reporters Without Borders’ latest press release urges Bush and Sarkozy to raise concerns of free speech in the Middle East considering the rise of crackdown on bloggers. The press release features Kareem’s case as well as the case of imprisoned Saudi blogger Fouad Al Farhan.

Relevant excerpts:

Egypt and Saudi Arabia are both on the Reporters Without Borders list of Internet Enemies. Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer, 23, has been held since 6 November 2006 and is now serving a three-year sentence for “inciting hatred of Islam” and another one-year sentence for insulting the President Hosni Mubarak. He often posted blog entries critical of the government’s religious and authoritarian abuses. He also criticise Egypt’s leading religious institutions, including the Sunni University of Al-Azhar, where he studied law.

Saudi blogger Ahmad Fouad Al-Farhan, 32, has been held since 10 December in Jeddah’s Dhaban prison. The authorities are not yet required to reveal why he is being held because, under Saudi law, a person may be held for questioning for six months.

Arabic:

ترد مصر والمملكة العربية السعودية على لائحة أعداء الإنترنت. فقد حكم على كريم عامر البالغ 23 سنة من العمر والمعتقل منذ 6 تشرين الثاني/نوفمبر 2006 بالسجن لمدة ثلاثة أعوام بتهمة “التحريض على كراهية الإسلام” ولمدة عام لإهانته الرئيس المصري علماً بأن هذا المدوّن كان يندد بالانحرافات الدينية والسلطوية لحكومة حسني مبارك وقد انتقد أعلى المؤسسات الدينية في البلاد ولا سيما جامعة الأزهر التي درس الحقوق فيها.

أما أحمد فؤاد الفرحان البالغ 32 سنة من العمر فمعتقل منذ 10 كانون الأول/ديسمبر 2007 في سجن ذهبان في جدة. والواقع أن القانون السعودي يجيز للسلطات التي لم تكشف بعد عن أسباب اعتقال المدوّن، احتجاز المتهم على ذمة التحقيق لمدة ستة أشهر.

French:

L’Egypte et l’Arabie saoudite figurent sur la liste des ennemis d’Internet. Kareem Amer, 23 ans, détenu depuis le 6 novembre 2006, a été condamné à trois ans de prison pour avoir “incité à la haine de l’islam” et à un an pour avoir insulté le président égyptien. Le blogueur dénonçait régulièrement les dérives religieuses et autoritaires du gouvernement de Hosni Moubarak. Il avait également critiqué les plus hautes institutions religieuses du pays, en particulier l’université sunnite Al-Azhar, dans laquelle il étudiait le droit.

De son côté, Ahmad Fouad Al-Farhan, 32 ans, est détenu depuis le 10 décembre 2007 à la prison de Dhaban, à Jeddah. D’après la loi saoudienne, les autorités, qui n’ont toujours pas révélé les raisons de l’interpellation du blogueur, peuvent détenir un individu pendant six mois pour l’interroger.

Find the press releases here:

- Arabic
- English
- French
- Spanish

We are conducting a podcast where everyone can literally voice their support for Kareem.

If you wish to get included in this podcast (and we highly encourage you to!) please send us a brief MP3 file of you saying supportive things to Kareem and demanding his immediate release (respectfully!) from the Egyptian government.

This can be done in as many languages as possible – not necessarily English.

Please e-mail your file to editor@freekareem.org and spread the word on your own blog/websites in order for us to gather as many voices as possible to help increase awareness on Kareem’s case.

Kareem has been in prison for over a year. Please don’t forget him. Help now in any way that you can!

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.

Recent article in the Arab Times Online about blogging in the Middle East and North Africa highlights Kareem’s case:

But blogs in North Africa are not without risk. Karim Amer, 22, landed four years’ detention last year on charges of criticising Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Islam on his blog, Al Azhar.

Read full article here.

This is the latest press release from Reporters Without Borders, which also highlights Kareem’s case:

Reporters Without Borders hails the decision taken by the administrative court of Egypt’s state council on 29 December not to block access to 51 websites which judge Abdel Fattah Murad, the head of the Alexandria court, had accused of defaming and attacking the president.

“This is good news for online free expression in Egypt,” the press freedom organisation said. “The real reason Murad wanted to block these sites was their reference to the charge of ‘intellectual dishonesty’ made against him last February. This ruling raises our hopes about respect for free speech on the Egyptian Internet and we would like to think that similar ones will follow, for example, in the case of Kareem Amer, a young blogger who has been imprisoned for criticising the president and others.”

A total of 21 sites, including Baheyya and Gharbeia, two popular blogs, and the site of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, were initially accused of attacking the president by Judge Murad on 11 March, after allegations circulated on the blogosphere that a book by the judge on the Internet’s legal challenges had been plagiarised. The judge subsequently added another 30 websites to his complaint.

The administrative court ruled that the sites were just content hosts and, as such, not responsible for the comments that might be posted on them. Judge Ahmed Hassaan, the head of the administrative court, refused to block the sites and denied that they had violated the constitution, as Murad had claimed.

The ruling has been hailed as “historic” by the Egyptian blogosphere. Gamal Eid, the head of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, said he was “delighted” by the decision. It presaged a “return to normal” for the Egyptian Internet and recognised “the right of Egyptian citizens to have access to a free network,” he said.

Egypt is one of the world’s most repressive countries as regards online activity. Two bloggers were arrested in 2007, including Kareem Amer, who was sentenced to four years in prison on charges of insulting President Hosni Mubarak and inciting hatred of Islam in comments criticising the government’s authoritarian and religious excesses.

Click here for the link.

We sent a set of the donation money to Kareem and have reported it here. Kareem recently sent a letter confirming that he received this money, and thanks everyone involved in either donating or sending it. A copy of this letter will be later scanned and we intend on translating it to English for our international audience.

We are going to send a new set of the donation money to Kareem on Sunday.

Update: Kareem also received books from supporters. If you want to send books or other material to Kareem, we strongly recommend Fedex, if you want it to get there fast and securely. Please be careful on what you send, anything too controversial might put him in trouble. You can find his prison address here.

Thanks to everyone who sent Kareem letters of support, books, money, and helped us fight for his freedom. Your efforts will never go unnoticed and is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Thanks to Olof Jönsson, a Swedish article about Kareem and our campaign for him was featured recently here.

Thanks again to Olof for collaborating with us; it is always a great pleasure to see people determined to help and report on Kareem’s case!