Don't 'Blog' in Egypt! You could get Jailed!

[Smeggle]

Egypt blogger jailed for 'insult'



Last Updated: Thursday, 22 February 2007, 14:48 GMT
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Egypt blogger jailed for 'insult'
Abdel Kareem Soliman
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.

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So much for free speech there then......