Thursday, 22 February 2007, 14:48 GMT BBC NEWS
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Egypt blogger jailed for 'insult'
Soliman was arrested for his "insulting" blog posts in November
An Egyptian court has sentenced a blogger to four years' prison for insulting
Islam and the president. Abdel Kareem Soliman's trial was the first time that
a blogger had been prosecuted in Egypt. He had used his web log to criticise
the country's top Islamic institution, al-Azhar university and President Hosni
Mubarak, whom he called a dictator. A human rights group called the verdict
"very tough" and a "strong message" to Egypt's thousands of bloggers.
Soliman, 22, was tried in his native city of Alexandria. He blogs under the
name Kareem Amer. A former student at al-Azhar, he called the institution
"the university of terrorism" and accused it of suppressing free thought. The
university expelled him in 2006 and pressed prosecutors to put him on trial.
'Slap in the face' During the five-minute court session the judge said
Soliman was guilty and would serve three years for insulting Islam and inciting
sedition, and one year for insulting Mr Mubarak.
On blogs everyone is allowed to write what they want. This proves how
unintelligent the president and Al-Azahr are
Kasia
Send us your comments
Egypt arrested a number of bloggers who had been critical of the government
during 2006, but they were all subsequently freed. Hafiz Abou Saada of the
Egyptian Human Rights Organisation called the sentence "a strong message to all
bloggers who are put under strong surveillance". The UK-based organisation
Amnesty International said the ruling was "yet another slap in the face of
freedom for expression in Egypt". Fellow blogger Amr Gharbeia told the BBC it
would not stop Egyptian bloggers from expressing opinions as "it is very
difficult to control the blogosphere". There have been no reported comments
on the sentence from the Egyptian authorities.
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