As we noted a few weeks ago, today was Kareem’s final appeal. The decision of this appeal will be announced on the 20th of October. In the meantime Kareem will continue suffering in his jail cell while the Egyptian government visibily ignores all requests to release him.

This coming November, Kareem will have spent 80% of his sentence time and we are hoping that on the 20th of October they will officially announce his freedom. If not, it marks a new crime committed by the Egyptian government, which continues to abuse its powers at the expense of innocent individuals such as Kareem, whose only crime was practicing his right to freedom of speech on a personal blog.

Please contact your local Egyptian Embassies or Consulates and respectfully demand that Kareem’s release will be secured after years of intentional abuse.

An article that appeared in the Washington Post recently makes a brief mention of Kareem.

The U.N.’s New Censor:

Even if Mr. Hosni’s supporters succeed in cajoling or coercing pro-Israel groups to back their man, he would remain as suitable to lead Unesco as a Cairene cat would be to guard a stew. Try convincing jailed blogger Kareem Nabil Soliman, or blackballed satirist Ali Salem, or chronically harassed activist Wael Abbas, that Mr. Hosni’s brand of cultural preservation should be exported throughout the world.

Read the full article here.

The verdict on Kareem’s final appeal (previously reported here), which was expected today, was postponed by the judge considering the appeal to September 15th.
We will keep our readers updated when any new information comes in.

We have just been informed that the judge will report the decision tomorrow concerning Kareem’s case. This is still developing news and we will keep you updated on what happens, or what time the decision is set to be announced. In the meantime keep your hopes high for Kareem.

Later today (Monday) at 10am, Kareem’s final appeal will take place and Rawda Ahmed, his lawyer, will be there to hear the final decision.

We sincerely hope that the Egyptian government will do what they should have done over 3 years ago and conclude this tragedy by FREEING KAREEM.

Considering the amount of death threats Kareem has received both online and offline, his security will still be at risk and your support will be extremely crucial in keeping him safe regardless of the decision that takes place tomorrow morning.

An article mentionning Kareem Amer written by Clément Thiriau was published in Le Petit Journal on July17 2009. (in French) with the title « Malgré la presse privée et d’opposition, l’information reste très contrôlée » (Despite private and opposition press, information remains under tight control).

The article emphasizes the fact that pressures from the state jeopardize the press. Despite the long history of its numerous publications (with more than 500 titles, the most in the region) Egypt appeared in a « difficult situation » as ranking 146th on a list of 173 countries in the last Reporters Without Border classification about freedom of the press. Since january 2009 according to RWB, an average of a complaint a day is registered against a journalist or a blogger.

Though officially unconstitutionnal, censure is raging owing to the state of emergency. The main newspapers are in the hands of friends of the government. Free opposion press and independant press are mostly printed abroad and submitted to the censorship of foreign publications.

Thus internet became the space for freedom of expression. 20% of the Egyptian population is regularly surfing. But since 2007 the net is tightening. The blogger Kareem Amer became the symbol of repression on the Web. A law project is being discussed on creating emprisonnement sentences for « abusive use of internet ». Many bloggers have been arrested following the movements of the 6th of April. Several bloggers have been questionned and/or arrested at Cairo airport.

For the 4th time in a row, Reporters Without Borders has classified Egypt as one of the 12 countries qualified as « internet ennemies».

You can also read the whole report of Reporters without borders here.

Here is its first paragraph:

“The 12 ‘Enemies of the Internet’ – Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam – have all transformed their Internet into an Intranet in order to prevent their population from accessing ‘undesirable’ online information,” Reporters Without Borders said.

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) reports on the third failed attempt to visit Kareem on in Borg al-Arab prison since May 2009. Despite obtaining all the necessary permits from the General Attorney’s office, the ANHRI lawyers were denied access to Kareem on July 16. On July 6, reporter Magdi Samaan who traveled to see Karim was not allowed to see him. During their wait in the prison, the lawyers noticed people, who were deemed “VIP” by the prison personnel, who were allowed to visit prisoners despite not having the official permits.

The lawyers were able to bribe a guard with a significant amount of money so they can receive a letter from Kareem. In his letter to the lawyers, Kareem describes how he glanced at the prison log book and was able to see that it said that he was the one who refused to meet with Samaan. Except for this clear fabrication, Kareem has been accused of being “multi-religious” by the prison guards and in the past, tortured. Based on this dangerous pattern, the ANHRI voiced their concern about Kareem’s safety. We at FreeKareem.org join this call.

Kareem is not free yet, despite him being in prison for more than 3 years, but it is NEVER late for you to continue your support for him by downloading and putting this plugin of support on your WordPress blog if you have one:

Free Kareem WordPress Plugin

If you do not have a WordPress blog, you may simply choose to generate a widget and place it on your site:

Widget Generator for Innocent Prisoners

Please continue your support for Kareem!

Today, Kareem spends his 25th birthday in prison. The third birthday which he spends alone behind bars. We have recently sent a mailing list alerting people of his birthday and requesting that they send him letters and postcards of support – we hope that you will do the same! You may find Kareem’s prison address here.

A number of Representatives just sent a letter to President Obama requesting that he pressures Egyptian President Mubarak to release Kareem. A copy of this letter found below: