MEDIA: EGYPT, BLOGGER BEATEN IN PRISON,
RSF (ANSAmed) – CAIRO, NOVEMBER 20 –

A young Egyptian sentenced to four years of imprisonment for an offence against Islam and against President Hosni Mubarak in his blog has been beaten in prison and put into an isolated cell, the organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF) announced today. Abdel Karim Suleiman, a former law student, became in February this year the first case of a sentence in Egypt for having expressed on the Internet his opinions in eight articles written since 2004. RSF said that Suleiman had written in a letter from the prison that he was arrested, beaten and put into an isolated cell with scarce food and water. “I was subjected to a crude, non-humane and degrading treatment,” he denounced in a letter cited by the Paris-based organisation. RSF requested the release of Suleiman, known also as Kareem Amer, detained in the prison of Borg el Arab, near Alexandria. Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, which represents Suleiman, affirms in a declaration that a prison guard and another prisoner have beaten the young person, knocking one of his teeth out. In one of the incriminated articles, Suleiman, a moderate Muslim, accused Azhar, the highest instance in Sunni Islam, of propagating extremism. Internet is one of the few means to express disagreement in Egypt, where almost all information organs are controlled by the Government and under a constant threat of repressions. Numerous journalists are on trial for having “offended” Mubarak, under poor health conditions, according to rumours. (ANSAmed).
2007-11-20 18:43

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simultaneous rallies for the same cause makes a compelling story for journalists to write about.

Exactly! If you want to get attention, be newsworthy. Keep raising you voice until you’re loud enough to be heard.

There have been op-eds published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Reuters, the Associated Press and a few others about Kareem, especially when he was officially sentenced in late February. This is mostly thanks to the many people who helped blog about him.

The problem is that both the media and the international blogosphere tend to forget he ever existed once the hype dies down. This is why we’re using the strategy of worldwide rallies to help keep him in our sight and in our minds, and because simultaneous rallies for the same cause makes a compelling story for journalists to write about.

We’d appreciate any help you can give us in generating worldwide concern and support for Kareem.

I have followed the trial of Kareem only a small amount. Here in the States it has received very little coverage, which amazes me. This case should be on frontpages and at the top of the list at all broadcast news programs. This is supposed to be an issue that Americans are deeply concerned about, and yet our media gives it at best a cursory glance, and moves on to the latest celebrity gossip and political money scandal.

I am going to write an article about Kareem and your efforts to free him. I hope you will allow me to link to your multiple articles, and further hope you get some new traffic from this.

Contrary to popular believe there are many conservative Americans who feel quite strongly about freedom of thought and expression. The problem is lack of in depth coverage by our media, the internet is changing that, slowly but surely.

I support the Free Kareem initiative and I am really happy to see how successful it’s been. A year later and the message is still strong. I am positive that Egypt is listening.

Thanks for having enough courage to do this Miriam.

Secondly you are not wrong, Kareem did break the law. A law that deprives people of their basic human rights. Criticizing Islam is a human right. Criticizing the president is a human right. Both are elements of free speech, which is supposedly guaranteed in the Egyptian constitution. Egypt should never claim to be even slightly democratic if it takes both of these things away from their citizens.

When we protested in Bahrain in front of the Egyptian Embassy, my friend Mohammed who co-organized the rally couldn’t travel to Egypt when he had a conference there a week later. We did nothing wrong; we stood there together with respectful signs. It was legal and it was peaceful. We presented a clear message and we went home (after being secretly pictured and followed by investigative police.) The next time Mohammed tried to go to Egypt, they held him for as much as 14 hours in the airport, interrogated him, and denied him entry to the country. Why? Because he supports and respects human rights, and because he showed up to this small and peaceful protest (which took place last December, before Kareem was even trialled and sentenced.)

That is wrong and unjust. If people are going to be nationalists about this and worry about their worldwide reputation, i.e, “this is bad for Egypt,” they better start working the way many of activists already are on making Egypt a better place for everybody, or at least where human rights are recognized and respected by the government. No one but the Egyptian government itself is making Egypt sound bad. We wouldn’t be doing any of this if we didn’t actually care to make it better place to live in or visit.

The law itself is in violation of human rights if this is how it’s being practiced. Unfortunately, our society is trained to believe that free speech should be reserved only to those whose speech we agree with. This is a corrupt mentality that is endangering the lives of millions in the region and we better do something about it now before it gets out of hand. Many Muslims already are. I don’t agree with people who criticize Islam, I state this quite clearly throughout this website where I defend my faith against attacks all the time, but I damn well think people have the right to criticize as long as it’s not inciting violence. Kareem never did that, as provocative and insulting as his posts were. He wrote about what he observed. If you read Mohammed Fadel’s document about him, which includes much of Kareem’s personal biography, you will realize why he thinks this way. I don’t agree with him at all, but I don’t blame him for being like this either.

We continue to receive threats and negative feedback concerning the campaign. But Kareem is my friend and I will stand up for his rights, all personal differences aside. I just wish that everyone else will do the same because the campaign represents not just Kareem but everyone else in a similar position.