Twenty two year old Egyptian blogger from Alexandria and former Al-Azhar student, Kareem Amer (Abdel Kareem Nabil Soliman) was sentenced to four years in jail for his personal posts critical of the government of Hosni Mubarak, for his secular writings and criticism of sectarian strife in Alexandria last year. He was initially arrested for several days then released in 2005. He was dismissed from Al-Azhar last year which then filed a complaint against him with the public prosecutor. He was rearrested last fall. The charges against him included: Spreading data and malicious rumors that disrupt public security- Defaming the President of Egypt- Incitement to overthrow the regime upon hatred and contempt- Incitement to hate “Islam” and breach of the public peace standards- Highlighting inappropriate aspects that harm the reputation of Egypt and spreading them to the public.
The language of the charges is sickeningly familiar. It is the language that paranoid authoritarian governments use when they feel threatened, when someone tells the TRUTH. They ring hollow as if drawn up by a bored bureaucrat, the same set of charges paraded out thousands of times before; all they had to do was change the name of the accused. And for what? Abdel Kareem just expressed his thoughts, he did not incite or threaten violence, he did not undermine the security of the country. His only true crime is that of having and expressing critical thoughts, an inexcusable deviance for an autocratic and corrupt regime much more difficult to deal with than a bomb tossing terrorist. Citizens of such countries are expected to be subservient automatons without critical thought. They are supposed to act like castrated sheep, bleating meekly and bowing to the almighty, infallible leader, Hosni Mubarak (or Bashar al-Assad, or, or.....).
I am equally disgusted with the behavior of Al-Azhar's administration. What they have done is shameful whether they acted as a tool of the government or of their own free will. Are the tenets of Islam so fragile that they cannot withstand the criticism of a single free thinking blogger?
This is a dark day for Middle Eastern bloggers as well as for democracy and freedom of expression in our region.
More information at: Free Kareem
5 comments:
This is a sad and dark day for liberty and democracy..
What is even more saddening is that the 'Civilized World' would not bat an eyelid.. because, of course, it is the West-loving, and West-loved 'moderate' regime of Hosni Mubarak that is doing this.. so it's ok then..
Perhaps we, as an Arab blogging community, should launch a web-based petition calling for his immediate release, and forward it to His Excellancy President Hosni Mubarak?.. Anyone knows how to start off something like that??..
SB,
Thank you for your comment. You are absolutely right. In fact, there has been a worldwide campaign to release him (see link at the bottom of my post). I still think we should express our revulsion collectively as the Syrian blogging community. Perhaps we can repeat what Fares did for Syrian political prisoners. If Yazan could then get that to appear on Global voices that would have a greater impact. I will start by composing a statement, post it and solicit other Syrian bloggers to sign on. I am open to other ideas.
Abu kareem, I've laptopless for a couple of days now, I hate sony.
I was following his trial closely from Sandmonkey's blog. and i definitley agree that a collective move/condemnation should be put in order...
I'm definiltey open to any syntax.
I have a little problem with my internet access now without a laptop, maybe until monday, so anything syrian bloggers will agree on posting collectively, I'm with. And will definitley take it to GV first thing.
I think Ayman used to have a huge list of emails to a lot of syrian bloggers.
Abu Kareem I:m supposed to publish my roundup this week today, so we have until next week to agree on a post so we can gather signatures for and publish each on his blog.
cheers
I write to you as the Director of the Free Kareem Coalition.
We are currently looking for a Syrian representative to join our campaign for this brave young man who doesn't deserve to suffer through 4 years in prison merely for having and expressing his opinions on a blog.
If you are interested in joining, please contact me at director[at]freekareem[dot]org
This goes for anyone else who would like to be a part of our active team to Free Kareem. We need to strengthen this campaign, for the sake of liberty in the Arab world. This is a major human rights abuse and the Egyptian authorities must fix this mistake.
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