Egyptian Blogger Imprisoned for 4 years

Abdel Kareem Nabil, a 22-year-old former student at Egypt’s al-Azhar university, an Islamic institution, was sentenced to four years in prison for insulting Islam and the country’s president, Hosni Mubarak, in the country’s first prosecution of a blogger.

Nabil, who used the blogger name Kareem Amer, had sharply criticized his college on his blog, which is in Arabic, calling it “the university of terrorism” and accusing it of suppressing free thought. In his blog, Nabil was a vocal critic of conservative Muslims. In one post, he said al-Azhar University “stuffs its students’ brains and turns them into human beasts … teaching them that there is no place for differences in this life”.


Amnesty International said the conviction was a “slap in the face of freedom expression” and called Nabil a “prisoner of conscience” who had peacefully expressed his views. It has called for his immediate, unconditional release.

After the sentencing Karim was escorted into the prison truck and …. Seconds after he was loaded into the truck and the door closed, an Associated Press reporter heard the sound of a slap from inside the vehicle and a shriek of pain from Nabil. (link)

We as free speech activists in Pakistan fully support Nabil and strongly condemn the Egyptian government for blowing this minor issue out of proportions. Free speech is now a basic human right. Kareem stand strong against these cowardly bastards