Egyptian Blogger Abdel Karim Suleiman Did Not Blow Himself Up in a Train Station

As an Egyptian fellow blogger I stand with Karim, because I will never side with processes meant to terrorize innocent citizens who are exercising their innate right to freedom of expression and because I will never be part of a tribunal of inquisition in the 21st century. Those tribunals judged arbitrarily and without appeal like the current Emergency Laws and military courts applied in Egypt.

During the Middle Ages between the 5th and the 15th centuries, the Catholic Church was not only a religious institution, but also an immensely rich financial establishment that interferes and influences politics in the West. The largest Sunni religious institution in Egypt and the Middle East, Al-Azahr, has the right to give its say in politics and referring people accused of heresy to courts and prisons. If the measure cannot be damaging enough to send people to prisons like Egyptian blogger Abdel Karim, an irreversible Fatwa (religious opinion) can lead an Islamic fanatic or extremist to put an end to a person exercising his freedom of expression by spilling his blood. The Cairo-based religious institution is financed by the government and their employees are civil servants.

It is worth mentioning that during the Middle Ages that the more economic and political power and influence of the Church have increased, the more its genuine religious and spiritual strength has weakened. It is clear that Egypt is showing less tolerance and spirituality over the dominance of more support to terrorist ideology that does not believe in supporting basic human rights like freedom of expression. Back in the eleventh century, the Catholic Church made the gradual change from the spiritual to worldly matters with institution of tribunal of Inquisition. Religion had to be imposed and enforced with the appointment of unqualified and misappropriate men of the holy orders which became a matter of inheritance that led to the degeneration of the spiritual life. Many of them did not know how to read and had forgotten how to say a mass. In Egypt today, informal mosques became a job for the unempolyed uneducated people to release fatwas and earn a living through people’s “Zakat” and donations. These tax-free informal mosques attract unemployed Egyptians and non-Egyptians. Any male, who volunteer to stay from dawn to sun set and call for prayers, is qualified to release fatwas and be a politician, if needed, to decide on terrorizing Egyptians before non-Egyptians and judging the level of their faith and spirituality.

Egyptian blogger Abdel Karim did not wear a suicidal belt around his waist or threaten to blow up himself in malls or metro stations. Abdel Karim was like any normal person in any free country, he worked out his mind to think about issues in life as any young budding youth. He put his ideas on his blog. In the civilized world, ideas can be always argued or refuted but never killed. Needless to say that human are in continuous process of evolution at the intellectual, emotional and psychological levels and that interrupting these processes is totally against the laws of nature. Abdel Karim was made a criminal and terrorist by his Al-Azhar University in collaboration with the government and state security agencies. He was made a terrorist in the eyes of the society by Al-Azahr Institution. By sentencing Abdel Karim to 4 years, he is denied the right to grow and develop. It is worth mentioning here that Al-Azhar fails to make straight forward condemnation for the real terrorists who blow up themselves, killing innocent people but it succeeds to bring a four year sentence to a 22-year old innocent student to trial.

This Monday, on March 12 in Alexandria, Egypt, will be the first session of appeal for Egyptian blogger Abdel Karim. The world is watching one of the tribunals of Inquisition happening in Egypt in the 21st century. Karim was sentenced to four years in prison for insulting the religion and the President of Egypt.

Egyptian Bloggers live up to their Human Universal Commitment

Many questions have been thrown about the Egyptian blogosphere. I was asked last summer whether the Egyptian bloggers can become a political movement in Egypt. My personal answer was no, because I thought blogging is an individual activity in the first place, however it could be highly engaging. But as the time passes while observing the gruesome government clampdown on the Egyptian blogosphere, I am realizing that Egyptian bloggers have become a vocal power and highly respected by the entire the world. Everyday, they are snatching part of the information power that has remained in the hands of the government for decades. I have been following the Egyptian blogosphere with admiration for over three years now. I agree and disagree but I still have very high appreciation to all of them. From what I have seen over the past three years I can say that:

• Egyptian bloggers embraced the universal culture of freedom of expression exercised everywhere without really saying it. So the world embraced them as result.
• They are a bunch of young Egyptians, many of them students or young professionals who started blogs for honest lucid dialogues with themselves or with others without fear.
• They made themselves global citizens without traveling anywhere with a high level of interaction with nationalities from all over the globe despite the complicated visa and immigration procedures in today’s world.
• They believed in themselves and in the power of knowledge and information after decades of state-run media and government monopoly.
• They were heard by other fellow bloggers all over the world that they had never met, because they were able to speak the same language. They succeeded in striking real honest partnerships with peoples who share their concerns.
• Egyptian bloggers showed exemplary level of patriotism by standing next to other fellow helpless citizens who are abused and harassed by the government and helping them get their rights.
• They have worked as independent human rights organizations, without being paid by anyone except their own conscience, by exposing frequent torture and abuse cases and fraudulent political processes.
• They are taking the level of media to unprecedented level of freedom of expression in a very short time after decades of censorship exercised by state security armored by the crippling Emergency Law.
• Egyptian bloggers succeeded in making Egypt the priority number one after decades of media diversion to other regional and international issues that do not bring much dignity to the Egyptian citizen. Addressing Egyptian issues and fixing home before looking outside became a genuine concern. Domestic issues are no more neglected or overlooked as the case with domestic media outlets. They are trying to make the government accountable.
• They won international awards for best blogs on their own away from the widely-spread corruption and nepotism in Egypt. They believed in themselves and the world believed them.
• Their ideas have shown continuous evolution, flexibilty maturity and development over the course of events.

Tom Palmer Describes Egyptian Embassy's Response to the Washington Post's Editorial as "Pathetic"

On February 28, 2007, one of the Washington Post 's editorials was about the oppression of freedom of expression highlighing Egyptian blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil Soliman's four year sentence.

On March 5, the Egyptian press attache in Washington publishes the government's response to the newspaper 's editorial describing unrealistic standards for freedom of expression that are supposedly applied in Egypt. Not to mention that he is not referring to the crime of insulting the president that Karim has to spend one year for it in prison. This crime that does not exist in any law in Egypt!!

Same day, Tom Palmer describes the Egyptian Embassy's response as "Pathetic".

Tom Palmer is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and director of Cato University. In addition to his work at the Cato Institute, he is on the board of trustees of the Foundation for Economic Education and work with a number of other organizations.He frequently lectures in America, Europe, Eurasia, and the Middle East on the history of liberty and constitutionalism, globalization and free trade, individualism, public choice, and the moral and legal foundations of individual rights.

Egyptian Blogo-activisim By the Daily Star, Egypt

I came across an article by Frederick Deknatel, published by the Daily Star, Egypt. The article is about blogo-activisim. And I guess I am coining a new word here, blogo-activisim. At the forefront of the article, Deknatel is referring to my blog post about the first Israeli Arab Muslim Minister's appointment.

The article also starts with the dilemma of Karim Amer, the Egyptian blogger who was sentenced to four years in prison for insulting religion and the President. He almost got a sentence like the imprisoned political leader Ayman Nour who is spending five years in prison for challenging the President at the presidential elections.

The article also referres to some very popular bloggers in Egypt like Sandmonkey, 3arabawy, authored by journalist Hossam El-Hamalawy, Big Pharaoh, Wael Abbas’s at misrdigital.blogspirit, Arabist’s Issandr El Amrani, and “Torture in Egypt" . The article is just mentioning samples of what is going on in the Egyptian blogosphere that has become a role model and exemplary for many other Arab countries in the region.

The successful and stronger the Egyptian blogosphere turns, the more ferocious the state security agencies in Egypt will become.... The clamp down that has started early by Karim Amer and Alaa Abdel Fataah in 2005 and 2006 was just a beginning to new successful meduim or a giant that revealed the real status for the freedom of expression and speech in Egypt that government keeps mouthing off about in all international fourms.

Here is: Political activisim continues to create a buzz on Egypt’s political by Frederick Deknatel.

March 12 set For Egyptian Blogger Abdel Kareem's Appeal Court Hearing

Here is the news from the Washington Post. More support and presence are still needed for Egyptian blogger Abdel Kareem who writes under the name of Karim Amer. Kareem was sentenced last Thursday four years in prison for insulting Islam and the President of Egypt.