Thursday, November 18, 2010

Egyptian blogger Karim Amer released from prison

EGYPTIAN BLOGGER Abdolkarim Nabil Seliman (Karim Amer) has been released from prison after serving a four-year sentence:
Dissident Egyptian blogger freed after 4 years

The blogger, known as Kareem Amer, had been jailed on charges of insulting Islam and defaming President Hosni Mubarak. He had written harshly about religious fanaticism and Egypt's authoritarian government.


By Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times

November 18, 2010

Reporting from Cairo —

An Egyptian blogger whose case epitomized the struggle for freedom of expression in cyberspace has been freed after serving four years in prison on charges of insulting Islam and defaming President Hosni Mubarak.

Human rights organizations announced Wednesday that Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman, the blogger known as Kareem Amer, had been released from prison. His ordeal highlighted the Egyptian government's concern over dissident voices arising on websites and online social networks that are trickier to control than traditional opposition media outlets.
Get dispatches from Times correspondents around the globe delivered to your inbox with our daily World newsletter. Sign up »

"We are deeply relieved and happy to know that Kareem's nightmare is over and he is free at last," the international advocacy group Reporters Without Borders said in a statement. "Nothing will be able to erase his four years of suffering as a result of a totally unjustified conviction, but at least he will no longer be the scapegoat of Egyptian government anger at criticism expressed by bloggers.

[...]
Background to this barbaric story is here.