Reported today and featured on Reuters:

CAIRO, Nov 20 (Reuters) – An Egyptian blogger serving a 4-year jail term for insulting Islam and President Hosni Mubarak has been beaten in prison and sent to an isolation cell, rights groups said on Tuesday.

Abdel Karim Suleiman, a former law student convicted in connection with eight articles he wrote since 2004, was the first blogger to stand trial in Egypt for Internet writings.

The February verdict was widely condemned by human rights groups and bloggers as a dangerous precedent that could limit online freedom in the most populous Arab country.

Reporters without Borders said Suleiman, in letters sent from prison, had complained of being handcuffed and beaten then put into an isolation cell where he received very little food or water.

“I have been subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment,” the Paris-based media watchdog quoted Suleiman as saying. The group urged Egypt to release Suleiman, who also goes by the name Kareem Amer. He is being held in Borg el-Arab prison near the northern port city of Alexandria.

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, which represents Suleiman, said in a statement that a prison guard and another prisoner beat him while a prison official looked on. The beating caused one of his teeth to be broken.

Later, the group said, Suleiman was sent to a “disciplinary cell” where he was put in handcuffs and leg shackles and beaten again. The group said the beatings resulted from Suleiman “uncovering an act of corruption in the prison” but gave no further details.

An Interior Ministry spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment. The government says it opposes torture and prosecutes abusers if it has evidence of wrongdoing.

The Internet has emerged as a major forum for critics of the Egyptian government to express their views in a country where the state runs large newspapers and main television stations.

Suleiman, a secular-minded Muslim, has not denied writing the articles for which he was convicted, but said they merely represented his own views.

One of Suleiman’s articles said al-Azhar in Cairo, one of the most prominent seats of Sunni Muslim learning, was promoting extreme ideas. Suleiman has also described some of the companions of the Muslim prophet Mohammad as “terrorists” and likened Mubarak to dictatorial pharaohs who ruled ancient Egypt. (Reporting by Cynthia Johnston; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Link to original article.

RSF – Jailed blogger singled out for mistreatment, lawyers say in complaint:

Reporters Without Borders voiced concern today about the state of health of jailed blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman and said it supported the complaint which his three lawyers filed yesterday accusing a prison official, identified as Medhat Samir, of conspiring to have him mistreated and held him in solitary confinement.

Better known by the blog name of “Kareem Amer,” Suleiman has been held in Borg Al Arab prison near Alexandria since his arrest on 6 November 2006.

“We support this initiative by Kareem Amer’s lawyers and we call for his release,” Reporters Without Borders said. “He was unjustly convicted for criticising the Mubarak government’s religious and authoritarian excesses in his blog. He has now been held in bad condition for more than a year . We think he has served enough of this sentence.”

In his letters, Suleiman is referring to the “physical and moral” torture to which he is being subjected. He said he was “handcuffed and beaten” and then thrown into an isolation cell, where he was given hardly any food or water. “I have been subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment,” he said.

Read the rest.

The Jerusalem Post, via the AP:

Lawyers for a jailed Egyptian blogger have filed a complaint with the prosecutor-general’s office alleging their client is being held in solitary confinement and tortured in prison.

Lawyers with the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information and Hisham Mubarak Centre for Law demanded in the complaint, filed this week, that the prosecutor-general investigate the alleged abuses against their client, Abdel Kareem Nabil, who was sentenced in February to four years in prison for insulting Islam and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Nabil, who used the blogger name Kareem Amer, is a 22-year-old former student at Egypt’s Al-Azhar University who was a vocal secularist and sharp critic of conservative Muslims in his blog. His writings often lashed out at Al-Azhar – the most prominent religious center for Sunni Islam.

Via Alexandra Sandels:

CAIRO: In yet another case of alleged torture and police brutality, imprisoned blogger Kareem Amer claims in a letter he wrote to his lawyers to have been severely beaten and tortured by an inmate and a guard in Borg Al-Arab prison outside Alexandria.

His lawyers from the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRInfo) argue that Amer was beaten and then transferred to solitary confinement where he was placed in shackles and again assaulted. One of his teeth was broken, they said.

The organization reiterated in a press release that the incident was ordered and supervised by a prison investigation officer.

“Kareem was beaten badly and tortured for two days [starting] Oct. 24. He was prevented by prison officers from sending out letters to tell anyone about what happened. Only when he sent a letter to us through one of his inmates did we find out,” Amer’s lawyer Gamal Eid, from HRInfo, told Daily News Egypt.

Furthermore, Eid stressed that Amer was prohibited from undergoing a medical examination.

The alleged maltreatment was reportedly a result of the blogger uncovering a scandal in the prison involving money, Eid continued.

According to HRInfo, the battery took place inside ward Number 22 in front of a prison investigation officer and later continued in the solitary cell where Amer was handcuffed.

“If you tell, we will do this to you again,” the perpetrators allegedly warned Amer after the beatings, Eid added.

Representatives from HRInfo and the Hisham Mubarak Law Center are demanding an immediate investigation into the case, which they refer to as a breach of international treaties. Egypt is a signatory of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the United Nations Anti-Torture Treaty.

The organizations are asking to have Amer transferred to a safer prison facility “where his rights as a prisoner might be respected.”

Amer was sentenced to four years in prison in February this year for defaming President Hosni Mubarak and Islam on his Internet blog. The case marks the first time Egypt refers a blogger to prison. His imprisonment has sparked outrage among international rights groups and has attracted much unwanted attention to the Egyptian government.

On Friday, activists staged demonstrations outside Egyptian embassies in several cities around the world to mark the passage of one year since Amer’s detainment.

Student groups of Amnesty International New Zealand have been actively working on Kareem’s case for some time now, featuring him on their Freedom Challenge action page:

Here in New Zealand criticisms of the government and educational institutes are made every day… just listen in to friends and family conversations and you’d be surprised how often those criticisms are made. What won’t surprise you at all is that such comments are made without fear of imprisonment, ill-treatment or torture – a right denied Shi Tao and Abdul Karim Nabeil Suleiman.

Amnesty International considers Abdul’s sentence as “yet another slap in the face of freedom of expression in Egypt,” and considers him to be a prisoner of conscience who is being prosecuted on account of the peaceful expression of his views.” Join Amnesty in calling for Kareem’s immediate and unconditional release.

In a recent e-mail to us, Jay Crangle, a member of the organization, writes:

We are mailing a petition with over 800 signatures to the Interior Minister this week, as well as the diplomatic representative of Egypt accredited to New Zealand.

We would like to thank Amnesty International New Zealand for their consistent efforts concerning Kareem’s case, and hope that they too will be involved in our worldwide rallies.

From the Daily Star Egypt:

CAIRO: As the one year anniversary of the detainment of student blogger Kareem Amer approaches, activists of the online campaign Free Kareem Coalition are preparing for a day of worldwide protests in early November in support of the imprisoned cyber dissident.

The anniversary campaign entitled “One Year is Enough” has confirmed demonstrations outside the Egyptian embassies in New York City, Washington DC, Germany, the Netherlands, and in Romania on Nov. 9.

Activists aim, however, to organize rallies in at least 15 cities around the world, including London, Paris, and Stockholm.

“The demonstrations are intended to mark Kareem’s one year in prison. He was detained on Nov. 6, 2006, but the actual sentence wasn’t handed out until three months later. We are planning to organize rallies then too,” Esra’a Al Shafei of the Free Kareem Coalition told Daily News Egypt.

It was in February this year that the 21-year-old former Al-Azhar student was sentenced to four years in prison for insulting Islam and President Hosni Mubarak on his weblog. The case marks the first time Egypt subjects an internet blogger to a prison term and the sentencing has sparked heavy criticism of the Egyptian authorities from human rights groups as well as representatives of foreign governments.

During the first months of Amer’s imprisonment, the Free Kareem Coalition organized numerous rallies for Amer’s release in US and European capitals. The activist group now hopes that the one-year anniversary campaign will help create new momentum in the case.

“Our campaign is already receiving a lot of attention because people are thinking ‘wow, it’s been a year’ since Kareem was sentenced. Most bloggers in the Arab world who get arrested are usually kept in detainment for a few months at the most. Kareem’s case is unique in this regard,” Al Shafei said.

Furthermore, Amer supposedly sent out a new letter from his prison cell a few days ago in which he reflects on his year in detainment and denounces the “enemies of freedom’ who put him in prison.

“I write, with the completion of a ‘whole’ year in prison approaching, with my cuffed freedom and restricted movements. The tough experience pushed me to realize the bitterness of injustice, that indescribable feeling which has no parallel, particularly if applied to a victim who is not guilty. I did nothing but merely practice my legitimate right to [free] speech, guaranteed by all civil and humanitarian rules despite the tyrants who do not approve of it,” the blogger stated, according to the Free Kareem Coalition.

Amer claims that he has not been allowed to use pens in prison until recently which forced him to previously dictate his letters.

He is now, however, allegedly allowed to “write and exchange mails” although his letters are “subject to censorship”.

“Kareem can send and receive letters but not all packages reach him; especially books,” Al Shafei added.

Jason Guberman-Pfeffer of Sacred Heart University includes Kareem in an article against extremism:

There are growing numbers of courageous individuals like him, from Irshad Manji to the tortured Bangladeshi journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury to the imprisoned Egyptian blogger Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman. Unfortunately, they often have to spend as much time fighting their enemies as those who should be taken for granted as friends.

Read the full article here.

The Earth Times report that up to 800 participants aged 18-25 gathered in a Sharm el-Sheikh resort to discuss peaceful means of communication within the troubled region.

Suzan Mubarak, Egypt’s first lady and core member/sponsor of the Women’s International Peace Movement, shares her insight with the young and diverse delegates:

“Peace is not a far-fetched idea. Youth is the most solid resource base,” Mubarak said in her opening speech. “Listening is a great start, but acting upon what you hear is more important.”

Unfortunately, acting upon what he heard is precisely what Kareem did, and he is facing prison time for it. We believe that with Kareem still in prison many youth writers, human rights activists, and even just mere students interested in free speech will take this message as a threat. Kareem is an example of a grand error which we hope to see corrected by the Egyptian government.

Hopefully Suzan Mubarak, who has done an excellent job preaching peace and tolerance, becomes more aware of Kareem’s imprisonment and perhaps tries to influence the authorities to free him which would give her words more practical strength. It’s indeed very important to act upon what one hears, but it’s quite dangerous for such youth activists to do that if fear and punishment is a risk, which is why it would make more sense for Egypt to correct the mistake of imprisoning Kareem which will be a positive example and reflection of Suzan Mubarak’s great words.

Read the full article here, which is very hopeful, but our friend Kareem is still in prison due to free speech and we wonder how quickly this can be addressed for the sake of real peace in Egypt and the rest of the Arab world.

Alexandra Sandels reports:

A former student at Al-Azhar University, 22-year-old Amer was sentenced in January of this year to four years in prison for insulting Islam and President Mubarak on his internet blog. The case marks the first time Egypt sentences a blogger for ‘tarnishing’ online writings.

Correction of the article - Kareem was actually sentenced on the 22nd of February, after months of being in prison without fair trial, but moving on:

As co-chairs of the Congressional Task Force on International Religious Freedom (TIRF), Franks and Cleaver also stressed the need for the Egyptian authorities to investigate the alleged rise of Islamic extremism at Al-Azhar University and attacks on Coptic Christian communities in Egypt; topics Amer addressed on his blog.

Furthermore, following several security crackdowns on outspoken Egyptian bloggers in the past year, Franks and Cleaver urged Mubarak to protect freedom of expression for all Egyptian bloggers and “ensure Egypt’s vibrant blogging community continues to thrive without persecution.”

The alleged deteriorating press environment in Egypt has caught the attention of rights groups around the world.

It concludes:

Earlier this year, Franks spoke to the Egyptian Ambassador in Washington Nabil Fahmy, and urged him to “look into the case of Amer.”

Members of the US Congress also submitted a bipartisan letter to the ambassador in January, demanding the release of Amer.

On March 12, Amer lost his court appeal and began his prison term.

But his supporters still pin hopes on foreign governments and rights groups to take continued action in the case.

While his prison term started in late February, today marks Kareem’s 283rd day in prison, as his arrest took place on the 6th of November.

You can read Trent Franks’ press release here, which was published earlier this month.

If you are interested in a good way to spread awareness and to help us get the message across to Egypt, please consider being a part of our worldwide rallies. The next date will be Friday, November 9th, which will be 3 days after Kareem’s one year anniversary in prison.

Click here for info. Contact us if you are interested in getting involved. Kareem is depending on your help.

The Southland Times reports, ‘Pupils join protest to support human rights’ -

Southland Girls’ High School pupil Charlotte Leask signing a gumboot to symbolise Amnesty International’s “Give Google the Boot” protest.

Girls’ High joined activists nationwide in a protest to defend human rights in cyberspace as part of this year’s Amnesty International Freedom Challenge.

Last year Google launched a self-censoring Chinese search engine, which affects Chinese users by restricting search results for topics such as human rights and political reform.

These restrictions go against the constitution of the People’s Republic of China, which guarantees freedom of expression, Amnesty International says.

The school’s challenge aims to free Chinese journalist Shi Tao and Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer who are in jail for simple internet activities.

Tao is serving a 10-year sentence for sending an e-mail containing information on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. While Amer, a student activist, is serving four years for writing a blog criticising his university and Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

Students raise funds, from The Timaru Herald -

Julia said the campaign was about shutting down repression and rebooting human rights. This year’s theme was internet repression and working to end the restriction of freedom of expression on the internet.
She said it was based on Kareem Amer, who was imprisoned for blogging his thoughts on the government and journalist Shi Tao, who was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in 2004 for posting information on the web instructing fellow journalists how to handle media coverage of Tiananmen Square.

Roncalli students fighting for freedom

All of these students did a great job in this wonderful opportunity to voice their concerns for innocent victims like Kareem and Shi Tao. We at the Free Kareem Coalition truly appreciate it and strongly encourage other students in the world to take their lead and support the battle for human rights and free speech.

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