Four years ago, we reported on the jailing of Egyptian blogger Abdul Karim Suleiman for insulting Islam and Hosni Mubarak:
An Egyptian appeals court on Monday upheld a 4-year jail sentence against a blogger convicted of insulting Islam and President Hosni Mubarak.
Abdel-Karim Suleiman, 22, last month became the first Egyptian to be jailed for his writing on the Internet in what human rights groups and bloggers described as a dangerous precedent that could limit online freedom in the country.
“This was not a verdict issued on a legal basis,” said Gamal Eid, a human rights activist and one of Suleiman’s lawyers. “This is a religious verdict similar to those of the Inquisition,” he told Reuters.
The court in the port city of Alexandria also allowed a group of Islamist lawyers to file a separate lawsuit against Suleimandemanding compensation on the grounds that his writings had harmed them as Muslims.
A photographer working with Reuters said the Islamist lawyers criticized Suleiman’s lawyers during the proceedings for defending him.
“You are an infidel,” one of the Islamist lawyers shouted at a member of Suleiman’s defense team after the trial, sparking a shouting match between the groups.
This brave man was beaten and mistreated during his imprisonment.
I am glad to be able to report that the Free Kareem website and Index on Censorship have announced his release.
Read his articles.
