My friend Kareem Amer remains in prison in Egypt
October 20th, 2009Kareem is a young Egyptian blogger who was only 22 years old when he was sentenced to 4 years in prison by the Egyptian government for criticizing Islam and the President of Egypt on a personal blog. Kareem was threatened and harassed consistently for his writing, and was previously arrested prior to his sentence, all of which were attempts to silence his opinions which he should be free to express. He challenged the Egyptian government and the self-proclaimed “scholars” at the Al Azhar religious institution which he attended (and was eventually expelled from) by criticizing them and their policies. His latest arrest was on the 6th of November, 2006, and he has been in prison ever since that date. Months after that, while he was imprisoned without charges, he was formally sentenced to 4 years in prison on the 22nd of February, 2007, causing him to be the first blogger in the Arab world to be sentenced officially by a court for his blog.
Since the 6th of November, 2006, on the day of his arrest, I created FreeKareem.org to try and secure his release, and dozens of volunteers soon piled up to help out, making the campaign one of the most visible campaigns for a blogger in the world. Despite that, and the outrage expressed by thousands of people worldwide, including government officials and MPs who shamed Egypt and the Egyptian government for this gross human rights violation, the Egyptian authorities failed to acknowledge this mistake. We created many campaigns over the years to help keep the mainstream media interested in covering this story, knowing that this is what the Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak is scared of most. We did this through worldwide simultaneous rallies which took place in at least 15 major cities around the world, the “Flood the Jail with Mail” campaign, other letter campaigns throughout the year, #FreeKareem Twitter days, creating Free Kareem events in schools and universities around the world, involving musicians and artists, and much more.
This certainly worked in terms of raising awareness and mainstream media attention, which went wild, everywhere from the Washington Post to Czech TV. Staff at the Egyptian consulates and embassies around all these countries were certainly aware and felt the pressure multiple times throughout every year. They heard us say: We are aware of the mistake the Egyptian government has caused and we are here until you CORRECT IT. They never did. 1080 days later and they never did.
Kareem shouldn’t be forgotten. He is not merely an example of what could go wrong for bloggers under oppressive regimes. He is a human being and my friend who deserves his freedom. Please help me free him, and communicate this message to the Egyptian government or journalists around the world, and perhaps to the U.S government that continues to fund this regime out of self-interest at the expense of basic human rights.
Kareem must be freed.
For more information please visit www.FreeKareem.org and do your part to spread the word. If you Tweet this news, please use the hashtag #FreeKareem.
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by mideastyouth and ibnkafka, Free Kareem Amer. Free Kareem Amer said: RT @mideastyouth: My friend Kareem Amer remains in prison in Egypt http://is.gd/4sLyH #FreeKareem [...]
with all due respect, there is a difference between “criticized” and “insulted”
for example, if i say something like “Esra’a, your agenda for human rights in the middle east is a fishy”, it’s called criticism.
but if i say, “Esra’a, you are a cunt”, then this is an insult.
the right to criticize i am willing to defend with everything i got, for that criticism is what breeds evolution of thoughts.
as for the right to insult, there is no such thing, no one has any right to insult.
And so, is this something you’d like to be imprisoned and tortured for?
For 4 years?
Think about it.
His posts were insulting and offensive, sure. He called the Prophet (pbuh) a pedophile, which is wrong on so many levels, but the reaction should be mere challenging, not torture and imprisonment. I’m a Muslim, and I think what he said is disturbing, but it certainly falls under the category of free speech. Many challenged Kareem through his blog comments, and many even resorted to attacks and threats. But none of what he said justifies the fact that he’s in prison right now. You don’t imprison and torture people simply because they offend you, it’s outrageous.
That said, it’s also a personal blog, and he was insulting mainly the religion, without threatening to murder or kill any Muslims. THAT can question whether or not this falls under the category for “free speech,” but, free speech does include insulting remarks about a faith. It just does. It’s offensive and often absurd and stupid, but it’s still a right. Kareem never preached violence or murder, so there are no exceptions in his case, this is his individual right.
Finally, Kareem was also sentenced to ONE full year for “insulting the President of Egypt.” So even if you think that insulting Islam should get people imprisoned and tortured, you have to acknowledge the fact that he’s largely in prison for his political posts as well, otherwise he wouldn’t face such a charge. And insulting the President also falls under the category of free speech. It’s not intelligent to “insult” as opposed to “criticize,” but it shouldn’t land you in jail.
[...] Source Esra’a (Bahrain) [...]
We haven’t forgotten him during the last 3 years, Esra’a.
I think Kareem has sacrificed for all the digital youth generation in the region, he caused this stir which is uproaring and pressuring the totalitarian regimes nowadays.
Your efforts, and the organization’s, are unputdownable, undeniable, and unforgettable. Leave alone FreeKareem world renowned campaign!
And everyone should be proud that they’re a part of this organization.
Free Kareem Now!
@ Maestro,
There’s a tiny border between criticism and insult, and it varies, according to the recipient, i.e. it’s very relative.
And relatives can’t be taken for granted – or to the court, indeed.
And that’s why the Individual Freedom proponents argue that constitutions should involve the physical coercion/aggression only. According to one Supreme Court’s slogan that reads;
“Your freedom to move your fist is limited to the proximity of my chin.”
We can conclude that this court allows middle finger gesture, for an instance, but not punch. Hence, if Kareem middle fingered Islam, he didn’t punch a muslim. And middle finger can’t be taken to court. Leave alone that it was constructive criticism, and not a middle finger, considering the middle finger is a destructive one.
Punch line: you’re free to swear at me, but not to touch my body or property. Very fair, isn’t it?!
A. Zidan
Maestro, you have a very distored view of what constitutes freedom of speech. The other comments have tried to clarify the true definition by giving some great examples and limits (of which violence is one). I hope to add more clarification below:
Aritlce 19 of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR) is very clear: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, this right includes the freedom to hold opinons without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
Kareem’s sentence is laughable under even the weakest definition of that human rights standard, especially the part about “insulting the President.” Think about it: if “insulting the President” was a crime in the US, practically the entire Republican party and most late-night comics like Jay Leno would be in jail.
As for the parts where Kareem’s blog “insulted” religions, is freedom of thought not part of religion? Are you not allowed to strongly disagree with what an Imam, Priest, or Rabbi (or whatever spiritual leader you follow) says? Article 18 of UNDHR defines freedom of religion this way: “Everyone has the freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance.” Notice the first line, freedom of thought – Kareem was not only exercising his freedom of speech rights, but also his freedom of religion rights. The two are closely correlated and really one cannot exist without the other. Human rights have to be universal, applicable in every country, to every religion, and to every human. We do not get to pick and chose what is an insult and what is criticism, what is ok to say or not ok to say.
It’s well within your freedom of speech rights, Maestro, to call Esra’a a cunt, although it is not polite to do so. That’s an example of an opinion and it is subjective (or as Ahmed said above, relative). The beauty of freedom of speech is that once you say such a thing, all of us have the right to respond and prove how it’s untrue – which are our opinions, also subjective. Kareem’s blog was a perfect exercise in such an endeavor – he had opinions, voiced them on a private blog, and others disagreed. None of these actions are criminal….and note none of the people who commented on his blog were arrested; it was JUST HIM, which shows how this is an obvious example of the Egyptian government trying to silence its critics and whoever disagrees with the regime (of which Egypt has a great track record; Dr. Ayman Nour and Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim come to midn).
Insults, although ignorant and often bigoted, are absolutely covered under freedom of speech principles. For example, using the word “nigger” to describe an African American person is considered an insult today in the US. That word was widely used in common conversation just a few decades ago. However, society evolved and decided that term was not appropriate (but it’s still not criminal to say). That type of evolution would never have happened if someone did not have a “right” to insult in the first place.
Therefore, both criticism AND insults breed the evolution of thought…one is just a better mechanism than the other. And we should all be defending the right to use both, as freedom of speech means accepting the opinions of others with whom you disagree.
This is a very disturbing article because my thoughts on freedom of speech could be very different from Kareem’s or any one of His 1000 supportor’s. Jessica’s idea on Human Rights violations is a core concept to this incident of Defamation. According to many international laws, dafamtion of another’s entity is considered a crime, and a especially case of this is when it is occuring in the media. The core principle of religion is founded upon religion I say religion because religion has its roots in (science, ethics, and philosophy) so this could be more than just giving the middle finger to Islam (or the bringer of Islam, which happens to be a pedophile). Therefore I am in the cross hairs of whether to view kareem as innocent because I cannot see the “evolution of thought”.
Therefore to stir up an idea derogatory in nature and not to do anything about it and say “freedom of speech”, is as offensive and damaging as the “cartoon charicatures” which had been publicly advertised causing havoc outside the sphere of just “speech” Pedophile is a despeccable trait meaning “an adult (chick or dude) who is sexually attracted to young children” which was the same word referred to micheal jackson which had also been untrue. since this is not true and incorrect simply because a historical and most influenced man in the world could not have been a pervert. Also by dafaming the Prophet he has defammad an entire community of his followers (including the governement), which are known to be the believers of righteousness. To conclude I think freedom of speech must be regarded in the context it falls under and the domino effect it may have caused because it leads to reprecussions.
I would like to fall back to this incident of a historian who had challenged the idea of the holocaust where he was critiszed and convicted just because he had opposed some of the facts written by opposing historians. Here is a small excerpt on relevance a previous blogger had noted:
Irving’s reputation as an historian was widely discredited[3] after he brought an unsuccessful libel case against the American historian Deborah Lipstadt and Penguin Books in 1996. During the trial, an English court found that Irving was an “active Holocaust denier,” as well as an antisemite and racist, and that he “associates with right-wing extremists who promote neo-Nazism.”[4] The judge also ruled that Irving had “for his own ideological reasons persistently and deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence.”[4][5]
On a visit to Austria, Irving was apprehended, tried and convicted of “glorifying and identifying with the German Nazi Party”, which is a crime in Austria under the Verbotsgesetz law. He served a prison sentence from February to December 2006 on the charges.
Basically he was regarded as a slanderous person, and he was thrown in jail! CONTEXT AND RELEVANCE!
[...] an important partner of OR318. For information about his arrest you may read this article from the Mideast Youth site: Kareem is a young Egyptian blogger who was only 22 years old when he was sentenced to 4 years in [...]