Reporters Without Borders (RSF) have issued the following press release on Kareem:

Reporters Without Borders deplores the way the authorities continue to persecute Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman, a jailed blogger better known by the pen-name of Kareem Amer. For the third time in a row, one of his lawyers has been denied the right to visit him in Borg Al Arab prison although he had the required permits from the Alexandria attorney-general’s office.

The lawyer, Ahmed Omar, one of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information’s lawyer (ANHRI), was told on arrival at the prison on 10 January that the security services had imposed a permanent ban on visits for the blogger. The ANHRI filed a complaint with the Cairo prosecutor’s office in May 2009 after the first refusal, but no investigation was carried out.

Reporters Without Borders is very worried about the conditions in which Kareem Amer is being held and his physical and psychological health. Imprisoned since November 2006, he has had no contact with the outside world for the past eight months. Reporters Without Borders intends to request permission to visit him as soon as possible.

On 22 December, a court rejected a request for a retrial for Kareem Amer. Although all further possibilities of appeal have been exhausted, a petition for his release has been filed with an administrative court.

This is not the first time Kareem is forbidden visits by either his lawyers, journalists or his own friends.

Several friends of Kareem as well as his lawyers attempted to visit him recently but with no success. We are seriously concerned for his safety and demand that the Egyptian government intervenes by ensuring he is at least being treated decently with rights to see and communicate with visitors. We are unaware of whether or not latest letters from his supporters are reaching him, as several of them claim they’ve had no response despite previous communication with Kareem.

It’s bad enough that Egypt has insisted on keeping him imprisoned for the “crime” of practicing free speech on the internet, but the harsh treatment is unacceptable and will surely create further international outrage at the real crime, which is imprisoning and torturing an innocent blogger, a crime that the Egyptian government has refused to correct while toying with a young man’s life.

Close friends of Kareem who attempted to visit him several times within the past few weeks expressed concern at the fact that they were never able to. It appears to be that no one can visit him anymore without some sort of permission. Many visitors were turned away, including his friends who notified us of this. We are trying to find more information on this weird new visitation policy and will write about it shortly.

The heart of the desert, the prison of Borg el Arab where Kareem is imprisoned.

Shahinaz, an Egyptian blogger, Rawda, Kareem’s lawyer, and Doa’a Sultan, a journalist, drove all the way from Cairo to Borg el Arab prison in order to visit Kareem and see how he’s doing. The prison is situated in a cruel, dirty, and isolated location.

Shahinaz tells us that Kareem is doing good and was very glad to see them all. They spent most of the time encouraging him, and mentioned the latest worldwide rallies which he was very happy to hear about. He thanks everyone who was involved. Likely due to the international outrage which took place the last time we were aware of his torture, Kareem is no longer being physically abused in prison.

Kareem has been receiving several letters from abroad which really help keep him in good spirits. The Free Kareem Coalition is considering launching another letter campaign, calling for people across the world to send letters to Kareem and making sure he’s not alone.

If you would like to write to him, you may use this address:
Abdel Kareem Nabil Suliman
Borg el Arab prison
Section 22, Room 1
Alexandria Egypt

You can also FedEx small packages or books to this address.

Kareem will also be featured in a local newspaper. He has spent some time writing down his thoughts and this will hopefully be translated as soon as possible by the coalition. When Doa’a asked him about his torture in November, he had a very hard time dealing with the memory. “We could see how much this cruelty traumatized him,” says Shahinaz.

The three young women spent the full day to visit Kareem. They left Cairo at 7am and came back that same night at 7pm. We thank them all greatly for having the courage and for taking the time to visit Kareem in prison, which surely meant a lot to him.

Fellow Egyptian blogger Shahinaz notes in an e-mail to us that Kareem received two visits in prison: one from Gamal Eid, executive director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, and the other from Howaida Taha, an Al Jazeera documentary maker who was briefly arrested in Egypt due to her video footage on police torture. Her husband accompanied her to this visit.

Kareem was also supposed to receive a brief visit from Sarah, a friend who lives in Alexandria and who lives not far from him, but unfortunately the prison guards refused her entry because Kareem had already received visits during the week from Shahinaz, Howaida, and Gamal and it is not possible to accept more within such a short time span.

Kareem is glad that he is still receiving support internationally. He continues to receive letters from abroad from people who participate in our letter-writing campaign. If you haven’t sent a letter to Kareem yet, please take the time to do so, as it is the best way to help keep him hopeful and in high spirits.

Don’t forget to spread the word about our worldwide rallies on the 9th of November (NOT the 6th!)

If you want to get involved, please do contact us.

Mutual friend who blogs at Wa7damasrya has just returned from visiting Kareem in prison. Her remarks are the following:

I have just returned from visiting Kareem. Again, I have to say that putting him there is a horrible injustice. I could no longer bare seeing him there with all those criminals.

Guards continue to shout and use wood sticks with prisoners as if they are not human beings. Kareem and his ilk are treated like animals. She says:

Every time I go there, I feel so disappointed that my country has gotten this corrupt. I was thinking about Susan Mubarak, or “Mama Susan” as I used to say as a child, I just wish that she could live that experience one day… to actually visit the prison, to see one of her own sons being abused and sentenced to prison simply because he wrote his thoughts.

Kareem is fine. He was on a strike after they put him in the same cell with criminals who were accused of actual crimes like violence or abuse. He told me they will put him back in the cell of political prisoners.

I let him talk as much as he wants because he needed that. We stayed longer than they allowed us to during my previous visit.

The good news is that Kareem has agreed upon receiving the money that we have collected so far for the past year of our campaign. He will be sent 500 LE each month. Feel free to contact our treasurer to know of the details.

Many thanks to Wa7damasrya whose help and courage we could not succeed without. Visiting political prisoners in Egypt is certainly not easy and for her to do that means that she’s a true woman of her word and a real friend, both to us and to Kareem.

Kareem’s latest letter from prison is still in the process of being translated and we’ll share it as soon as it’s ready.