« Words I Thought We'd Never Here From Muslims And Christians In Baghdad: 'All the people, all the people in Iraq, Muslim and Christian, is brother.' | Main | Opinion: 'It's Radical Islam, Stupid' (Updated) »
November 13, 2007
Egyptian Blogger Being Tortured In Prison
Student blogger Abdel Karim Soliman, now known as Karim Amer, who was jailed for "disdain for religion" and "insulting the president" on his blog, is reportedly being tortured by Egypt's prison authorities:
... sentenced to prison for 4 years for 'vilifying religions' and defaming the president was tortured & that was ordered andKarim's story began almost a year ago, when Abdel Kareem wrote a blog post describing the prestigious Islamic University of Al Azhar - where he was enrolled a student - as "the other face of Al Qaeda." When a copy of Karim's post was forwarded to the Al Azhar administrators, they set up a disciplinary hearing:
supervised by an investigation officer in Borg Alarab prison. Karim was
also ordered into a solitary cell where he was assaulted again and had
one of his teeth broken; this assault's date came to mark one year
since Karim was sent to jail.
During that hearing, they confronted Kareem with what he wrote about the university and about Islam in general (he had, among other posts, written one comparing The Prophet Mohammed and Ariel Sharon, and favoring Ariel Sharon as the better human being) He admitted to his writing unapologetically, and started to accuse them of suppressing his freedom of speech and conducting a Middle Age-style inquisition against him.Egyptian Sandmonkey says that with the exception of those who believe in human rights, who is gonna defend him?That same day Kareem was expelled from Al Azhar University.
A few days later, a university official went to the police and filed a police report accusing Abdel Kareem of insulting Islam and general contempt for religion.
A guy who insulted the prophet getting tortured? The public response is gonna be : "Good. That's exactly the kind of person who should be tortured! Make an example out of him." God knows that the day of his sentencing, and I was there for the majority of the trial, the public outside were debating how he should be killed.And the most telling part of all?
It is to mention that Karim since he was imprisoned is subjected to a systemic discriminatory practice and maltreatment in Borg Alarb prisonIn other words, be a nice little Muslim and don't complain about Islam or the government, or we'll torture you to death!
on the hands of the prison's officers. He mentioned to his lawyer that
the maltreatment was always coupled with this phrase "This is until you
do change your mind"!!
So, where's the international outcry from Muslims and non-Muslims alike?
Cross posted from Hyscience
Posted by Abdul at November 13, 2007 11:10 AM
