Our New York Coordinator, Constantino Diaz-Duran, had his op-ed article published today in the New York Post.

Excerpt:

Depriving a student of his freedom and robbing him of his youth merely for posting his opinions on a Web site is a horrible step back for Egypt. It certainly makes a mockery of the claims by Karim Haggag, press attache at the Egyptian embassy in Washington, that “freedom of speech is safeguarded in Egypt’s Constitution and its legal framework.”

The United States claims to be Egypt’s friend and ally. But friends call each other on their mistakes, and urge correction. Franks has pointed out that “Congress is concerned with Egypt’s stifling of basic human rights” and called on Mubarak to “immediately pardon” Soliman.

When Rice meets with Mubarak this weekend, she should transmit the same message.

Read full article here.

Adobe PDF version here.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Free Kareem Coalition
Constantino Diaz-Duran, Coordinator – New York
Mobile: +1 (202) 288-3328
Email: constantino@freekareem.org

US SECRETARY OF STATE MUST ADDRESS HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN EGYPT

International Coalition Calls on Dr. Rice to Discuss Release of Jailed Blogger with President Hosni Mubarak

March 23, 2007

NEW YORK—US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will arrive today in Egypt in the midst of international furor over continuing human rights abuses occurring in the close US ally. During her visit, she will be meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Aswan for face-to-face talks on regional issues.

The Free Kareem Coalition calls on Secretary Rice to use this opportunity to officially insist on the release of blogger Abdul Kareem Nabil Soliman. Soliman, better known by his Internet handle ‘Kareem Amer’, was sentenced just one month ago to four years in prison for writings on his blog, in which he promoted women’s rights and criticized extremism in Islam.

Kareem, a 22-year-old law student, was expelled by the religious Al-Azhar University over his writings, and was then arrested last November on charges of “insulting the president of Egypt” and “disdain of Islam”. While Kareem is the first Egyptian to be prosecuted for Internet-based journalism, his imprisonment sets a dangerous precedent. Amnesty International has called his case “a further erosion of free expression in Egypt,” and Human Rights Watch has also called for his immediate release.

Soliman’s sentence has generated international condemnation. To honor his integrity in protecting free speech, Index on Censorship recently awarded Kareem their 2007 Hugo Young Award for Journalism, and English PEN has granted him honorary membership. The US State Department has previously issued statements expressing concern about Kareem’s conviction and sentence. Additionally, US Congressmen Barney Frank and Trent Franks have issued a bipartisan letter strongly encouraging the Egyptian government to set Kareem Amer free. European parliamentarians have also called for Abdul Kareem’s unconditional release. However, no action is being taken by the Egyptian government to correct the Alexandria court’s mistake.

With his appeal denied, Amer’s only hope is a pardon from President Hosni Mubarak. “We have worked on raising awareness around the world about Kareem’s imprisonment. Secretary Rice is in a unique position to help secure his release, if only she will act,” said Andrew Perraut, London Coordinator of the Free Kareem Coalition.

The US State Department has not announced plans for Rice to discuss human rights during her trip. “We implore the Secretary to ask President Mubarak to correct the mistake made by the prosecutor and court, and to pardon Kareem Amer. Egypt must live up to its own promise to respect the basic rights of its own citizens,” Perraut added.

# # #

Media may contact Constantino Diaz-Duran, New York Coordinator of the Free Kareem Coalition, by email at constantino@freekareem.org, or on +1 (202) 288-3328. More information can also be obtained at www.FreeKareem.org.

National Public Radio (NPR) is a US-based membership organization of public radio stations that serves over 26 million Americans a week.

Xeni Jarden from NPR News has produced a report that was aired on the nationally-syndicated newsmagazine Day to Day. On the six-minute segment, she interviewed:

- Our New York Coordinator, Constantino Diaz-Duran;
- Egypt’s Ambassador to the US, Nabil Fahmy;
- Egyptian blogger Alaa Abd El-Fattah; and
- Lawrence Wright, a writer for The New Yorker magazine and author of The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11.

NPR warns: “This report contains some graphic audio, which some listeners may find disturbing.”
Click here to download the NPR podcast.

You can also read Xeni’s report at the NPR Web site: Supporters Work to Free Egyptian Blogger.

(Visit that page to also access the segment using streaming audio on RealPlayer or Windows Media Player).

Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman, or “Kareem Amer,” was convicted of violating the same legal provisions he criticized on his personal blog.

Three people stand with signs outside Egyptian embassy in Washington, D.C. FreeKareem.org

Exactly one month ago, a 22-year-old law student was sentenced to four years in prison for what he wrote on his personal Web site. The case of Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman, or “Kareem Amer,” as he is known in the blogosphere, has shed a spotlight on a growing community of bloggers in Egypt, and on the country’s laws concerning online speech.

A translation from Kareem’s final blog post in October reads, “The mere existence of legal provisions that criminalize freedom of thought, and threaten with imprisonment anyone who criticizes religion in any way, is a grave defect in the law.”

Two days after he posted those words, he was interrogated by Egyptian police. Eventually, he was convicted of violating the same legal provisions he criticized on his personal blog.

A court convicted him of contempt of religion, specifically Islam, and of defaming President Hosni Mubarak. Though this is the first time a blogger in Egypt has been convicted by a court for blogging, Egyptian bloggers say free speech and political activists are often arrested and detained.

Cairo-based Alaa Abdel Fattah spent a month and a half in jail last year for protesting injustice in Egypt’s legal system. Last week, Egyptian authorities targeted him again, producing a list of opposition activists that included him and other bloggers.

At a protest days later, police arrested and jailed 20 people for two days, including some of the bloggers on that list.

Another blogger targeted for spreading what the government called “false news” posted a video of alleged torture and rape in an Egyptian prison.

This and other videos documenting alleged human rights abuses have made Egyptian bloggers a subject of attention. Wael Abbas, the blogger who posted a copy of that torture video, reportedly also has a warrant out for his arrest.

Blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah says he wasn’t tortured during his 47 days in jail last year, but knows others who have been.

Egyptian activist and blogger Mohammed el-Sharkawi, 24, was tortured and sodomized “using a rolled up piece of cardboard for nearly 15 minutes” according to his lawyer, Gamal Eid. Human rights groups say Egyptian authorities have yet to investigate or prosecute the police officers accused.

Lawrence Wright, author of The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, says torture is rampant in Egypt’s jails.

“We need to be much more universal in our condemnation of torture in Egypt,” Wright says.
He argues that the United States should also support due process and humane treatment for Islamist prisoners, not just reformist bloggers like Kareem.

“There’s a greater risk in not advocating for those values for both sides. The Islamists in prison in Egypt pose a real threat when they get out,” Wright says. “If we advocate for their rights, if not for their cause, we stand a better chance of having some kind of understanding.”
Nabil Fahmy, Egyptian ambassador to the United States, believes much progress has been made on social and political reforms. How Egypt’s government and society go forward in dealing with bloggers, he admits, still remains a question mark.

Meanwhile, a coalition of Kareem’s supporters are campaigning for his release, including organizing protests at Egyptian embassies around the world. Coordinator Constantino Diaz-Duran in New York says that Kareem’s family has disowned him, so the coalition plans to provide some of the necessities that prisoners in Egypt generally depend on families to provide: medicine, clothing and food.

Kareem’s father has said that he would like to see Islamic Sharia law applied. This would give Kareem three days to repent, or face execution. As dire that sounds, this may be one of his last remaining options. On Monday, an Egyptian court rejected an appeal for Kareem’s release, a move the U.S. State Department has condemned.

You can also read the report at Boing Boing.

Al-Jazeera reported on Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) surprise demonstrations at the world tourism trade fair in Paris, in which they targeted Cuba, Tunisia, and Egypt. Egypt was targeted for being an ‘enemy of the Internet’, and they specifically chanted for Kareem’s freedom.

More videos and pictures on the demonstration at the Egyptian stand here: Reporters Without Borders, French Bloggers: Opération Kareem Amer!

Ben Lynfield from the biweekly Jerusalem Report provides a thorough three-page report dedicated to Kareem Amer’s case.

The newsmagazine is print-only, but the reporter has kindly granted the Free Kareem Coalition permission to have the article available as a PDF file for Kareem’s supporters: Deleting Dissent. (Or click on the image below.)

Excerpts:

In a blog about the sacred fasting month of Ramadan posted in October, Soliman argued that many Egyptians fast because of social pressure, not because they want to, and called it the “month of hypocrisy.” He described how when he and a friend ordered meals and began eating them in a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Cairo shortly before the end of one fasting day, families waiting for the end of the fast looked at them “as if we came from another planet.” This caused the meal to become “an unbearable torture because of the staring of those around us,” Soliman writes.

The Egyptian army is another object of Soliman’s broadsides. He calls for abolition of the draft, which he says is a form of “slavery” papered over with slogans such as “national duty,” “national service” and “defending the land of the ancestors.” To prove his point that the draft threatens the lives of those drafted, he posted a picture of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier being held in Gaza, on his blog and writes that armies have no right to expose their soldiers to harm “like the Egyptian soldiers who lost their lives on the border with Israel and Israeli soldiers captured by Hamas and Hezbollah.” He accused Egypt’s military of “inhuman treatment” of conscripts.

But Soliman’s fateful, and thus far losing, battle is with al-Azhar, the state religious institution whose role in Islamic jurisprudence extends beyond Egypt’s borders into the wider Sunni Muslim world. Al-Azhar says on its website that the standing of its sheikh, Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, is equivalent to that of the prime minister of Egypt. Faced with Soliman’s youthful irreverence, Al-Azhar crushes with the weight of history. It has been around for 1,035 years.

Al-Azhar termed Naguib Mahfouz’s allegorical novel “Children Of Our Neighborhood” blasphemous when it was serialized in al-Ahram newspaper in 1959. Unlike Soliman, who heaps scorn on al-Azhar and vowed on his last blog, before going to jail, that he would not change a word of his writings, the cautious Mahfouz, who won the Nobel Literature Prize in 1988 and died last year, was deferential to al-Azhar and agreed that “Children Of Our Neighborhood” would not be published in book form in Egypt during his lifetime. A 2004 study by the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights documented the activity of al-Azhar’s Islamic Research Council in thwarting the distribution of literary and artistic works deemed objectionable, including confiscating books from Cairo’s main book fair.

With the Soliman case, al-Azhar’s censorship has penetrated cyberspace.

[…]

Asked to comment on Soliman’s imprisonment, Stewart Tuttle spokesman of the American Embassy in Tel Aviv, said the United States is “concerned about the conviction and sentence meted out to someone for his opinion. The State Department does not follow this blog. It is important to respect all religions, including Islam, but freedom of expression is criticial to a democratic and prosperous society.” Officials at Egypt’s embassies in Tel Aviv and Washington, D.C. did not respond to requests to be interviewed for this article.

Al Shafei, the Bahraini blogger, says she is “deeply disappointed” by what she views as a lack of American response to Soliman’s plight. “We at the Free Kareem Coalition believe that if we had the American government’s support in this case, that would be much more meaningful than trying to spread democracy through military intervention like we have seen in Iraq. This is the kind of support we need and we would find it very worrying if this case was easily dismissed or ignored.”

Al Shafei is also greatly disappointed by Arabs and Muslims who refused to sign the coalition’s on-line petition because they do not agree with Soliman’s opinions. “If we aren’t able to express ourselves, that’s a huge issue for Arab youth,” she wrote. “How are we expected to grow as a civilization if we aren’t allowed to question and criticize without risking our lives for it?”

Read it all. This is a magnificent piece of journalism.

How come he’s not in jail for expressing an opinion the defense lawyers did not like? (Sarcasm)

From Reuters: Egyptian court rejects blogger’s appeal.

Excerpts:

Abdel-Karim Suleiman, 22, last month became the first Egyptian to be jailed for his writing on the Internet in what human rights groups and bloggers described as a dangerous precedent that could limit online freedom in the country.

“This was not a verdict issued on a legal basis,” said Gamal Eid, a human rights activist and one of Suleiman’s lawyers.

“This is a religious verdict similar to those of the Inquisition,” he told Reuters.

[...]

“You are an infidel,” one of the Islamist lawyers shouted at a member of Suleiman’s defense team after the trial, sparking a shouting match between the groups.

[...]

Many in the religiously conservative Arab nation reject Suleiman’s views on religion.

Suleiman stood at the defendant’s pen on Monday wearing a blue prison uniform. He did not deny writing the articles but said they merely represented his views.

Ahmed Seif al-Islam, one of his lawyers, said the defense team planned to take the case to the Court of Cassation, Egypt’s highest appeals court.

[...]

“The problem in these kind of cases is that the people who distinguish between their religious feelings and the law are few,” [Seif al-Islam] said.

(The third article covered by MEMRI was previously reported by the Coalition here.

Special Dispatch Series – No. 1504

March 16, 2007

Arrest of Reformist Blogger Sparks Criticism in Egyptian Press

On February 22, 2007, Egyptian blogger Abdelkareem Nabil Suleiman, known by his web-pseudonym Karim Amer, was sentenced by an Egyptian court to four years in prison for “disparaging religions” and “insulting President Mubarak.” [1] In response, several columnists in the Egyptian press wrote critical articles, in which they denounced the curtailing of freedom of expression in Egypt and called to pass laws protecting the bloggers’ rights.

The following are excerpts from three of the articles:

Egypt Does Not Respect Freedom of Expression

Columnist Salama Ahmad Salama wrote in the Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram: “In Egypt and in the Arab world [as a whole], we have significant difficulty in understanding and implementing one of the basic human rights, namely freedom of opinion and expression… Freedom of expression is the right to express an opinion or idea that is opposed to the opinions accepted by a certain sector of society, or to the opinion dominant in society [at large], no matter how [deeply] entrenched. This freedom is often curtailed, or [completely] suppressed, in countries taking their [first] steps in democracy, and in conservative societies in general.

“Countries with a tradition of openness protect freedom of expression in all its forms – freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of belief and freedom to demonstrate peacefully. [In other words], this freedom is not only manifest in political discourse, but is also applied to artistic expression, religious [beliefs] and all forms of entertainment… especially in light of the media revolution and the expansion of the Internet, which have presented society with new challenges. It seems that we are unable to internalize this international [concept of] freedom of expression…

“If it was possible to pass laws stating that one cannot be imprisoned for [statements] published in the press… there is no choice but to apply the same principle to bloggers, to [statements] posted on the Internet, and also to what is broadcast on satellite TV channels. We must agree on established principles of freedom of expression, so that the government and religious institutions will not [be able to] control [people's] thinking and views.” [2]

Blogs Have Become Tools for Influencing the Regime and Public Opinion

Another Al-Ahram columnist, ‘Adel ‘Abd Al-Sadeq, discussed the increasing impact of blogs on the political discourse, and the need to establish an institution to protect the bloggers’ rights: “Thanks to their immensely wide distribution, blogs have become more than just a platform for [posting] news and analyses – the [bloggers] also follow the news, interpret them and respond to them… It is no longer possible for a restricted group of individuals to dictate public opinion, shape it and recruit it [for their purposes] – the blogs have [shattered] the monopoly on information that was [once] held by a few traditional players. Blogs constitute a new means for pressuring the government [regarding] its public policy and the transparency of its decisions… They have become a platform of political participation, and are used by people on the Internet to protest and to demonstrate against the government’s policy…

“Blogs, just like the traditional press, must be subject [to the principles of] freedom of opinion and expression, since they [reflect] the extent of reform and democracy [in the country]… The arrest of bloggers, and their persecution by the security [apparatuses] reflect uncertainty on the part of the government regarding the concept of freedom.

“How can [the government decree that people] may not be imprisoned for publishing [an opinion] in the press, but at the same time persecute bloggers for publishing their opinions? Freedom is not a principle that can be applied [discriminately]. It cannot be upheld in one case and disregarded in another, [under the pretext of] protecting [national] security, and at the expense of [civil] liberties.

“Blogs constitute an alternative media platform, and are no different from the written press. Consequently, there should be an organization, a legal association or a syndicate to defend the bloggers’ interests and publication rights.” [3]

Opinions Cannot Be Locked Up Behind Bars

Journalist Diana Muqallid wrote in the daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat: “[Karim Amer's arrest] was a climax in the bloggers’ struggle against the government institutions and against other long-established institutions in the Arab region which persecute, arrest, torture and even execute [people]… In recent months, bloggers have suffered increasing persecution, arrests, and even imprisonment, as in the case of [Karim] Amer. [This came after] extremist and conservative circles expressed harsh criticism against the Internet and against its users in the Arab world. Their criticism rests on the simplistic assumption that the Internet is used only for entertainment and chatting, and as a platform for [displaying] licentious [materials]. Later, we began hearing the slogan that, in addition to all these faults, the Internet also constitutes a new weapon in the hands of extremist groups – which is, of course, true.

“Today, as the sector of Arab bloggers expands, they are expressing an ever-widening range of opinions, and are being emboldened. Due to their growing influence, there is increasing awareness of their role, as well as growing wariness and suspicion towards them. Bloggers have been instrumental in raising questions, issues, and topics that have never been presented as openly and publicly as they are now [presented] in the virtual domain. Until recently, groups with Islamist leanings controlled the number of [Arab] users and sites on the Internet. This reality has not yet changed dramatically, but we can definitely speak of new circles and of new activists, with more liberal leanings, who hold real debates on [various] issues [such as] freedoms, extremism, minority rights and women’s rights…

“It is true that Karim Amer, and other [individuals] in Arab countries, are [still] behind bars or in danger of being arrested. However, the [freedom of] expression afforded by the immense virtual domain of the Internet cannot be [constrained and] placed in a dungeon. Karim’s blog is still there for anyone who wants to visit it, and there is growing solidarity with him and with other bloggers – as reflected by the scope of the online campaigns that support them, and by the number of people who take part in these campaigns. In this era of the global village, opinions cannot be locked up behind bars of steel.” [4]

[1] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 1382, ” Egyptian Blogger Abdelkareem Suleiman Arrested for Criticizing Al-Azhar Sheikhs: ‘You Will End up in the Dustbin of History,’” December 7, 2006, http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP138206.

[2] Al-Ahram (Egypt), March 4, 2007.

[3] Al-Ahram (Egypt), March 5, 2007.

[4] Al-Sharq Al-Awsat (London), March 4, 2007.

Last month, the Free Kareem Coalition sent a letter, along with a press kit, to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, asking him to consider looking into Kareem Amer’s case.

His office has sent the Coalition a response: (Click on the image for an enlarged version.)

Text:

Dear Mr. Shouman:

On behalf of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, I would like to acknowledge receipt of your correspondence of February 25 regarding human rights in Egypt, particularly the case of Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman.

Please be assured that your comments have been carefully reviewed. I have taken the liberty of forwarding a copy of your letter to the Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of Foreign Affairs. I am certain that the Minister will appreciate being made aware of your concerns and will wish to give the matter every consideration.

Thank you for writing to the Prime Minister.

Yours sincerely,

M. Bredeson
Executive Correspondence Officer

The Coalition thanks the Canadian Prime Minister for the reply, and we look forward to any assistance the Canadian government can provide Kareem.

If you’re in Canada, please write letters to your Canadian officials, particularly to:

The Right Honorable Prime Minister Stephen Joseph Harper, PC, MP
Office of the Prime Minister of Canada
Langevin Block
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A2

The Honorable Peter Gordon MacKay, PC, QC, MP
Minister of Foreign Affairs
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6

The Honorable Jason Kenney, PC, MP
Secretary of State, Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6

Michael Grant Ignatieff, MP
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6

From the U.S. Department of State: Egyptian Blogger Appeal Denied.

Press Statement
Sean McCormack, Spokesman
Washington, DC
March 15, 2007

Egyptian Blogger Appeal Denied

The United States is disappointed that the initial appeal of Egyptian student blogger, Abdel Karim Soliman, was not successful. He is the first Egyptian blogger to be prosecuted for the content of his remarks, and his conviction is a setback for human rights in Egypt. The role of freedom of expression is critical in a democratic and prosperous society. The right to freedom of opinion and expression, through any media, applies to everyone and is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. We were deeply concerned by his conviction and prison sentence for expressing his opinions. We note that Mr. Soliman can pursue a further appeal, and we will continue to closely monitor this case.

2007/192

Released on March 15, 2007

In addition to being granted honorary membership by English PEN, Kareem was awarded the 2007 Hugo Young Award for Journalism at the 7th Annual Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards Ceremony on March 14. These awards are presented to honor the world’s champions of freedom of expression: Index Freedom of Expression Awards.

Index on Censorship/Hugo Young Award for Journalism 2007

This award, given in memory of Guardian columnist Hugo Young, goes to a journalist who has shown an outstanding commitment to journalistic integrity in defence of freedom of expression.

• Winner: Kareem Amer (Egypt): Kareem Amer is the pseudonym of 22-year old blogger Abdul Kareem Suleiman Amer, who was recently sentenced to four years imprisonment for criticising Islam and President Mubarak.

• Fellow nominees: Jayyab Abu Safia (Gaza): Jayyab has received death threats from Islamic fundamentalists for his work on his phone-in programme on Gaza FM. Trevor Ncube (Zimbabwe): Ncube’s tireless work in continuing to run the only independent newspapers in Zimbabwe while under constant attack has been described as ‘incredibly inspiring’. Carlos Lozano (Colombia): Carlos Lozano is a newspaper editor in Colombia, one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist.

Please visit the Index on Censorship Web site, and read the profiles of other soldiers of free speech under similar awards. They are all winners.