Despite our efforts to gain their attention and support for Kareem in the past 2 years, the UN has been largely unresponsive. Two years later UN “experts” condemn Kareem’s imprisonment, but where was the UN 2 years ago when we needed them, and why did the UN continue to support and promote Egypt’s place in the Human Rights Council despite knowledge of Kareem’s arrest and other bloggers/activists like him?

From Amnesty:

Experts of the Human Rights Council have concluded that the Egyptian authorities have detained blogger Karim Amer arbitrarily for his online criticisms and for exercising his right to freedom of expression. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) communicated its decision to Amnesty International.

[...]

Karim Amer was sentence in 2007 to four years in prison for writing on his blog criticizing Egypt’s al-Azhar religious authorities and President Mubarak. Charges against him include “spreading information disruptive of public order and damaging to the country’s reputation”, “incitement to hate Islam” and “defaming the President of the Republic”.

Read full release.

This is the video we created two years ago opposing Egypt’s inclusion in the Human Rights Council:

Twitter is very quickly emerging to be the primary tool for quick and effective communication across the world. It’s a great tool to use for awareness. The unfortunate thing about Twitter is that it’s so easy to get lost in the meaningless madness, where the majority give mindless updates on absolutely everything and anything that they do, that important tweets get overshadowed within seconds. This has made it harder for us to commit to Twitter and using it to help people learn more about Kareem and how they can keep by making others aware about his situation.

Now we finally have support in this with a service called Tweetizen, which allows you to create Twitter groups and will soon enable an embedding feature where you can embed it on the site, either as a widget or a page, which is great!

We have jumped at this early opportunity and created a group on Tweetizen where you can keep up with what people are saying about Kareem or the Free Kareem Campaign.

Here’s an example of what it looks like:

If you use Twitter, we hope that you will follow us @freekareem, and help by retweeting (RT) some of our posts.

Egyptian blogger “Wa7da Masrya” received another letter from Kareem, stating:

I got a letter from Kareem today. He is fine and again would like to thank everyone for what they are doing to help free him. He’s waiting for the day he’d be released from prison and hopes that by next November, when he’d have spent the majority of his time in prison, the government may be able to release him. He is hopeful.

Kareem writes:

Prison has become a part of my imagination. I don’t remember how life was before my imprisonment and how people look like outside.

Shahinaz, Kareem’s friend and one of his frequent visitors, adds:

I wrote to him and reassured him that we are all supporting him and we’ll continue our campaign to protect him during his detention.

Any requests to free Kareem has been refused despite other prisoners being discharged.

Please write to him and express your support and solidarity.

Egyptian blogger “Wa7da Masrya” received a letter from Kareem a few days ago stating that he’s doing fine for the time being, despite feeling frustrated and lonely. Fortunately his situation has improved now that the prison guards and the prison’s administration are aware of the trouble that would ensue should they harm and torture him as they did last year. “Activists and Kareem’s lawyers are keeping eyes on him,” she noted.

In a brief e-mail to us she went on to add:

In his letter, I could sense that he’s frustrated and afraid. He asked me, ‘do you think that outside of this prison would be better than it is here, or would it be even more hell?’

He is feeling very lonely, he needs more moral support, and to be reassured that when he will be released, he would be safe, since he’s now known as an atheist.

He also thanked everyone who is fighting for his freedom and wishes that all supporters would continue. So please do!

We have recently launched a WordPress plugin for Kareem. It has been in the works for some time, but we’re back now with a great update. In the previous post we noted that we were already working on introducing new features to improve the plugin/widget, these are now completed and you can download the latest from the official WordPress plugin directory.

What’s different from last time:

Previously you had no specific options. You had to use the widget as it came. However with the latest version, this is no longer the case. Whether you would like to show only Kareem’s photo and the feed from FreeKareem.org, or only a video and the social networking links, or simply an alert and a count-up of his time in prison, or a “tell a friend” e-mail option to increase awareness, or anything in between – this plugin allows you to choose whichever you prefer to show on your sidebar.

Take a look:

FAQ:

How do I customize it?
After you download and upload the plugin to your WordPress site (see “Installation“), go to “Settings” and proceed to the Free Kareem tab. Tick whatever option you would like your widget to include, and untick whatever you wish to eliminate. All the buttons are ticked by default, but this is just to show you the options before you begin customizing it depending on your needs.

Is it compatible with WordPress 2.7?
Yes. It is compatible with every version of WordPress since 2.0 and we’ll continue making it compatible with future releases of WordPress as well.

Does this plugin come in different languages?
Yes, very soon. Thanks to the outstanding support of volunteers we are currently working on launching this plugin in different languages. If you would like to translate this plugin, please let us know.

Here’s just an example of a customized WordPress widget:

Download the plugin here! And please spread the good word. This is a great way to spread awareness on Kareem’s situation.

WordPress is arguably the most celebrated blogging platform with millions of people using it around the world. We did not hesitate to use it as the platform of choice for both this blog and the plugin/widget described below.

The Plugin:
A plugin is a feature that extends the capabilities of WordPress. In this case, the Free Kareem plugin gives you the ability to promote Kareem’s cause through a simple widget, which you can conviniently place anywhere on your sidebar. Download it here [Instructions.]

What it looks like:

♦ The widget begins with a brief text summary of Kareem’s situation to get people’s attention on the seriousness of the issue.

♦ These social networking buttons will lead to Free Kareem’s Facebook and MySpace pages as well as the campaign’s YouTube and Twitter accounts. This is because not many people knew we existed on these platforms and may choose to stay in touch with us there as opposed to only this site.

♦ The “Tell a Friend” button leads you to a page where you can spread the cause via email to others.

♦ In the very near future, you will be able to do the following:

Customize the plugin from your admin interface.

Have the ability to remove social networking buttons and/or summary, replacing it with a picture of Kareem and/or a FreeKareem.org’s RSS feed. You will have several options to explore and the plugin can reflect only what you want.

Why:
Kareem has already spent 2 years of his life in prison. Now the media treats this as “old news” for the most part. We need to make sure that Kareem’s case remains prominent. Bloggers around the world can help us achieve that by downloading this plugin.

The Author:
Michael Torbert is ranked as the #1 WordPress Plugin Developer for 2008 (based on the total number of downloads of several of his plugins), making him an easy choice for us when we wanted to include the professional involvement of a WordPress developer. Michael supported our cause immediately and we sincerely thank him for his hard work with us.

The Future:
This plugin will continue being developed further depending on the feedback we receive. We are already working on some great additional features such as pictures, ability to exclude certain aspects of the widget, ability to include an RSS feed from FreeKareem.org, and generally making it as customizable as possible. But while we do that we need some help getting the word out on this plugin!

Open Source:
Like most WordPress plugins, the files are completely open source and anyone can build upon and improve this work, and if you do, please e-mail us and let us know so we can feature your work as well.

DOWNLOAD!
You can download this plugin from WordPress.org. It supports many versions of WordPress and works with any theme!

In a recent article featured in the Daily News Egypt, Kareem’s case is highlighted as a prominent example of Egypt’s increasing intolerance for freedom of speech:

February 2008 marked the first anniversary of the imprisonment of Kareem Amer, the first Egyptian blogger to be sentenced for his online writing. Amer’s jailing foresaw the trend described by CPJ in its annual census of journalists in prison, issued this month.

For the first time in CPJ’s prison census, online journalists represented the largest category (45 percent) of imprisoned media workers. CPJ attributes this to the “rising influence of online reporting and commentary.”

Many other examples are listed in this extensive article detailing Egypt’s punishment for anyone who dares to practice their basic right to free speech.

Despite over 2 years of worldwide protest, Egypt has yet to justify Kareem’s imprisonment with actual logic.

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.

Worldwide Protests Against Kareem Amer’s Imprisonment, by Safaa Abdoun for the Daily News Egypt:

CAIRO: Human rights activists and democracy advocates around the world protested and criticized the imprisonment of Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer, who was sentenced to four years in prison for insulting Islam and defaming Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

On Thursday Nov. 6, which marked the second anniversary of Amer’s arrest, demonstrations were held in several world capitals calling for the blogger’s release and criticizing Egypt’s violation of the citizen’s right to freedom of expression.

The demonstrations were organized by the Free Kareem Coalition, an online “campaign to free the brave Egyptian blogger,” according to the website.

Holding up banners and posters with phrases such as “Shame on Egypt” and “Respect Human Rights,” human rights activists stood in front of Egyptian embassies and consulates in New York, San Francisco, Tel Aviv, Rome and Brussels, among other cities worldwide.

Pete Eyre, organizer of the rally in Washington DC, told Beirut-based website MENASSAT that their event was a “success.”

“There were 18 people 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,” he was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, Soviet dissident and democracy advocate Natan Sharansky strongly criticized the Egyptian authorities for Amer’s imprisonment.

“Freedom of speech is an inalienable right. Suppressing that right contravenes human decency and makes a mockery of the democratic ideal.

“We strongly condemn Egypt’s brazen assault on human liberty. Repression and autocracy must be castigated in no uncertain terms. Aid to a regime which denies its citizens basic rights is both counter-productive and immoral. We call on the Egyptian government to immediately release Kareem Amer and the many dissidents who bravely speak out in the name of freedom,” said Sharansky, who is currently, chairman of the Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies at Jerusalem’s Shalem Center, in a statement to the press.

Twenty-four year old Amer, who was expelled from Al Azhar University, was arrested on Nov. 6, 2006 in his hometown, Alexandria. He was sentenced to three years in prison on Feb. 22, 2007 for his blog entries, which the court considered to be insulting to Islam and defaming to President Mubarak.

At the time, Amnesty International described his arrest as “a slap in the face of freedom of expression in Egypt.”

He is currently serving his sentence at Borg El-Arab prison on the North Coast in Alexandria. Amer has served half of his sentence, which makes him eligible for release if the state decides.

Last Thursday, Gamal Eid, director of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, visited Amer and was reportedly appalled by the conditions of the prison, saying that detainees are harassed by the police officers.

“There are no laws governing this prison, any new state security officer can run it by his own laws. This is a matter of shame to the Ministry of Interior, which leaves prisoners as the victims of officers who have no respect for the law,” Eid said in a statement released by ANHRI

Link to original article.

The National Geographic featured Kareem in their global freedom of speech essay.

Here is a scanned copy of it, thanks to Fayrouz for sending this in!

(Click the image to see the full article.)