Degree of Madness

Update on Egyptian blogger

Egyptian blogger, Kareem, lost his appeal (via Michelle):

An Egyptian appeals court endorsed a verdict sentencing a blogger to 4 years in prison on charges of insulting Islam and the president.

Judicial sources said Monday an appeals court in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria approved the verdict issued last month against 22-year-old Abdul Karim Nabil Amer. He was convicted on charges of "ridiculing Islam and insulting" President Hosni Mubarak.

Arrested last November, Amer is the first blogger to be sentenced to prison in Egypt.

Since 1979, Egypt has received an average of over $2 billion a year from the United States.

In the past, issues like democracy and economic reform were of secondary concern to policymakers looking to shore up a friendly government. Support for Egypt jumped after it made peace with Israel in 1979.

However, US policy has changed since 19 hijackers demonstrated that bolstering stable, pro-American, but undemocratic regimes in the Middle East affected America's security. The ringleader and four of the 9/11 hijackers were Egyptian.

In 2002, the US National Security Strategy articulated a new aid doctrine, saying that money should go to "countries whose governments rule justly, invest in their people, and encourage economic freedom." (my emphasis)

Tell that to Kareem.

Our democracy-promoters at the State Department should join the call for a pardon.

Yes, they should.  What we can do is contact our representatives in Congress.  Find your Senator here and your Representative here.  Please call, write or email.  There is an incredibly brave young man in Egypt who needs our help.

Kareem sentenced to four years in prison

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt -- An Egyptian blogger was convicted Thursday and sentenced to four years in prison for insulting Islam, the Prophet Muhammad and Egypt's president, sending a chill through fellow Internet writers who fear a government crackdown.

Abdel Kareem Nabil, a 22-year-old former student at Egypt's Al-Azhar University, an Islamic institution, was a vocal secularist and sharp critic of conservative Muslims in his blog. He also lashed out often at Al-Azhar _ the most prominent religious center in Sunni Islam _ calling it "the university of terrorism" and accusing it of encouraging extremism.

His conviction brought a flood of condemnations from Amnesty International and other international and Egyptian rights group and stunned fellow bloggers.

The flood of condemnations did not include the Bush administration, however.

The Bush administration has not commented on Nabil's trial, despite its past criticism of the arrests of Egyptian rights activists.

Michelle Malkin is hearing crickets:

President Bush? Condi Rice? Promoters of democracy in the Middle East? Hello? Hello?

The silence from the Bush administration is deafening.  Considering the amount of U.S. aid money sent to Egypt each year, we should be demanding human rights reform.  Maybe since the Washington Post is reporting the story, President Bush will be forced to at least comment on it.   

Visit the Free Kareem for information on how you can help.

Egyptian blogger disowned by his family

Michelle has the latest on Egyptian blogger Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman and it is not good.  His family has disowned him and his father has demanded he be killed if he doesn't repent.  From the Free Kareem website:

Reported by Al-Masree Al-Yawm (The Egyptian Today), with thanks to Dalia.

The article is in Arabic. Here’s my translation:

Family of Al-Azhar Student, Accused of “Contempt of Religion”, Disowns Him Before His Court Verdict Session

Written by Nabeel Abu Shal and Tamer Al-Sharqawy
18/2/2007

The family of Al-Azhar student Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman, accused of “contempt of religion”, has disowned him before his court verdict session on the upcoming Thursday. His father, a retired mathematics teacher, has demanded applying the Sharia [Islamic law] ruling on him by giving him three days to repent, followed by having him killed if he does not announce his repentance.

The father of the Al-Azhar student, who is accused of contempt of the Islamic religion, harming the reputation of Egypt, and inciting to disrupt the peace and to overthrow the regime, has decided to rescind from boycotting his trial hearing sessions. [He has decided] to attend the court verdict session with his four brothers, who completely memorized the Holy Quran, to announce disowning the accused Abdul Kareem inside the court room, in order to reduce the embarrassment and pressure that civil rights organizations are applying on the court panel.

The father of the accused also described the organizations that are working on having his son acquitted as “monkey rights” organizations, in his own words. He also described his son as the “monkey” who has imitated the atheists of the West in their intellectual thinking.

The family also said that they will announce their disownment of their son on the Internet as well...

This must be heartbreaking for Kareem.  Now more than ever he needs all the support he can get. 

Michelle asks "Where the hell is the State Department?"  And that's a good question.  From her site, here is the contact information for the State Department:

Contact the State Department:

Public Communication Line
(202)647-6575

Office of Public Liaison
Bureau of Public Affairs
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW, Room 2206
Washington, DC 20520-2204

From Kareem's profile:

I am down to earth Law student; I look forward to help humanity against all form of discriminations. I am currently studying Law in Al Azhar University. I am looking forward to open up my own human rights activists Law firm, which will include other lawyers who share the same views. Our main goal is to defend the rights of Muslim and Arabic women against all form of discrimination and to stop violent crimes committed on a daily basis in these countries.

If there ever was a time to pick up the phone, this is it.  Kareem faces 10 years in prison.

Make the call and spread the word.

Egyptian blogger on trial for insulting Islam

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - An Egyptian blogger went on trial Thursday on charges of insulting Islam and causing sectarian strife with his Internet writings. Egypt's first prosecution of a blogger came as Washington has backed away from pressuring its Mideast ally to improve its human rights record and bring democratic reform.

Abdel Kareem Nabil often denounced Islamic authorities and criticized Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on his Arabic-language blog. He has been in detention since November and faces up to nine years in prison if convicted.

If the linked article is accurate, the United States has backed off pressing for greater freedoms in Egypt:

Nabil's trial in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria began two days after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Mubarak, seeking support for a new American strategy on calming violence in Iraq.

But unlike past visits to Egypt when she pressed demands for greater democracy, Rice made no reference to reform, instead praising the two countries'"important strategic relationship - one that we value greatly."

In 2005, the Bush administration made Egypt - which Mubarak has ruled unquestioned for a quarter century - the centerpiece of what it called a policy priority of promoting democratic change in the Arab world.

But Egyptian reformists say Washington has all but dropped its pressure on Mubarak amid the Bush administration's need for support on Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The United States was also spooked when Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood made big gains in 2005 parliamentary elections and the radical Hamas movement won 2006 Palestinian elections - raising fears that greater democracy would increase fundamentalists' power, activists say.

"America's stance is very clear. It is so afraid after the victories of Hamas in Palestine and the Brotherhood in Egypt," said Ahmed Seif al-Islam, a member of one of three Egyptian rights group backing Nabil in his case.

The United States "has not only lifted its hand and stopped pressure. We are in the phase of (the U.S.) hinting to government they can take repressive measures for the sake of stability," he said

Free Kareem has a link where you can sign a petition on behalf of Kareem. He faces up to nine years in prison and according to this update, he is being held in a "solitary jail".

From Kareem's profile:

I am down to earth Law student; I look forward to help humanity against all form of discriminations. I am currently studying Law in Al Azhar University. I am looking forward to open up my own human rights activists Law firm, which will include other lawyers who share the same views. Our main goal is to defend the rights of Muslim and Arabic women against all form of discrimination and to stop violent crimes committed on a daily basis in these countries.

He is 22 years old (or was at the time this profile was written) and he, as his goal indicates, is definitely worth supporting.  I only hope the United States is pressing Egypt on human rights harder than the article here reflects.