Robert Frost said ‘Freedom lies in being bold’ and this Egyptian blogger was bold enough to criticize the Egyptian blogger and is now facing charges of Insulting Islam and causing sectarian strife in the country and will be a chequred flag in the countries poor track record.
The blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil often through his blog brought forth the highhandedness of the Islamic athorties and of that of President Hosni Mubarak in his blog in Arabic language.
If convicted he faces a sentence of up to 9 years.
He is certainly not the first to be arrested in a country were people are asking for return of the democracy. Egypt has come down heavily on these pro-democratic bloggres and arrested many in the past year.
USA who till now was pressurizing Egypt for reforms and to improve human rights track record is also mum as it itself is seeking Egypt’s help in controlling violence in Iraq. A policy of opportunism has existed in USA and this is also a shinning example of this.
Nabil a stanch critic of the Government and the conservative religious institution al-Azhar said in one of his blog entries that the reign of Mubarak reminded him of the reign of a dictator and being critical of the institution he said that they were just spreading the radical ideas and were suppressing the freedom of thought.
As Yahoonews is quoting he wrote in one of his entries,
‘Al-Azhar...stuffs its students’ brains and turns them into human beasts ... teaching them that there is no place for differences in this life.”
Nabil was a Law student before being thrown out in March under alleged pressure from al-Azhar. He is the first blogger to be prosecuted in Egypt and on Thursday was charged with inciting Seduction, Insulting Islam and harming nation’s unity and insulting President.
Nabil has been kept in solitary confinement without being allowed to meet his attorney or family and according to reports when on Thursday he was brought to the court he did not look good.
The other bloggers arrested and who also face uncertain future in Egypt include: Alaa Abdel-Fattah (for organizing anti-govt. protest through blog) and Mohammed el-Sharkawi who was arrested during demonstration.
The trail was adjourned till Jan 25th so that so that defense attorneys could review the charges.
Via: Yahoonews
