ALEXANDRIA, Egypt — An Egyptian blogger was convicted Thursday and sentenced to four years in prison for insulting Islam 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, had been a vocal secularist and sharp critic of conservative Muslims in his blog. He often lashed out at Al-Azhar _ the most prominent religious center in Sunni Islam _ calling it “the university of terrorism” and accusing it of encouraging extremism.
Nabil’s lawyer, Ahmed Seif el-Islam, said he would appeal the verdict, adding it will “terrify other bloggers and have a negative impact on freedom of expression in Egypt.” Nabil had faced a possible maximum sentence of nine years in prison.
Egyptian blogger convicted / sentenced to four years in prison for insulting Islam
February 22, 2007 · 3 Comments
Categories: 411 · Free Speech · News
3 responses so far ↓
ashok // February 23, 2007 at 1:26 am |
I’m working on this topic right now – what Egypt did is a disgrace, it seems, and I think we need to read this guy’s blog and pay attention to what criticisms of the regime he had. If any of you TIN readers know Arabic, translations of his work would be most welcome (I’m trying to get a Lefty friend to translate some of his stuff).
Here’s the link: Kareem’s blog
mark // February 23, 2007 at 2:56 am |
Yep. So much for the tolerance of the “religion of peace” (sarcasm intended. So, what did he say that was so bad or untrue. If islam is so insecure that it cannot stand any negatives perhaps its followers need to re-examine their spiritual committment. Unbelievable! Just another reason not to follow the pedophile.
ashok // February 23, 2007 at 7:15 am |
Oops, didn’t link to his blog above, I’d better fix that (I didn’t mean to link to that blog entry of mine at all).
Kareem’s blog
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