“I am down to earth Law student; I look forward to help humanity against all form of discriminations… I am looking forward to open up my own human rights activists Law firm, which will include other lawyers who share the same views. Our main goal is to defend the rights of Muslim and Arabic women against all form of discrimination and to stop violent crimes committed on a daily basis in these countries.” — Kareem Amer
Today's image is of me, although you're spared yet another shot of my ugly mug in favor of the message I was conveying. As a blogger, I'm glad that I can write about just about any topic without much fear of recrimination from the government where I live. Now, it so happens that I usually write about educational topics, which aren't likely to be that controversial, but the principle is the same.
So when I heard about Kareem Amer, I felt like I ought to do something. This photo is of me at a protest in front of the Egyptian embassy in Washington, D.C. earlier today, organized by groups that support the immediate release of Kareem Amer from his prison cell in Egypt.
So, who is this guy anyway and why is he in jail? Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman, better known by his blogging name of Kareem Amer, is a blogger from Alexandria, Egypt, where he was a law student who expressed his opinion as many people do, through a blog. What he said riled those in power in Egypt, however, as he wrote things critical of both Islam and of Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak. Eventually Mubarak's people figured out who he was and he was rounded up and sent to jail, so far for 1,096 days.
Now, I actually read a bit of what Kareem wrote, albeit in translation, and no, it's not exactly flattering to Islam. If that were my faith, then I probably wouldn't like him very much either. But there are a number of passages in the Qur'an that seem clear to me about whether being an unbeliever should be a crime, such as:
Allah says: “If it had been your Lord’s will, all of the people on Earth would have believed. Would you then compel the people so to have them believe?” — Sûrah Yûnus: 99
So while I'll be the first to admit that this is not my area of expertise, to me jailing Kareem for writing unflattering things about Islam seems not to defend the faith, but rather entirely un-Islamic. Besides, it looks to me like the real reason Kareem's behind bars is not anything he said about Islam, although that was used as an excuse. Let's be real here: The reason Kareem is in prison is that he stood up to the heavy-handed state of Hosni Mubarak.
I don't know whether I would be that brave, were I in Egypt. But I can at least say that as a fellow blogger I support Kareem's freedom of speech and hope that he's released.
Next up, high hopes in the Middle Kingdom.