But Someone's Listening In

There’s an Egyptian blogger who is being accused of “insulting the president”, “inciting sedition”, “disrespect of religions”, and "harming national unity". More information can be found in found on Freedom For Egyptians' post. Karim Amer's blog is in Arabic. I’m sure this news makes Egyptian bloggers a little uneasy. That’s the whole point isn’t it? To make bloggers think twice before hitting that publish button. It does make me a little uneasy. And it makes me sad knowing that Egypt is still that far behind on human rights.

We have no choice but to voice our opinions anyway, regardless of whether or not it is well received with those who have power. If this news makes us bloggers resort to self-censorship then there is no point in writing. Whatever your opinion is, speak it! If my opinion insults the president, so be it. If it incites sedition, so be it. If it disrespects religions, so be it. If it harms national unity, so be it. I just promise that it won’t be baseless. The difference between saying “you are stupid” and “it was stupid to make this decision, because…” is never very fine. But I promise to be more on the latter’s side than the first.

The concept of free speech, on certain topics, seems to be non-existent in Egypt. Freedom of speech is constantly challenged by the government, the Muslim Brotherhood, or the people themselves. You can ask Abdelwahab about how his last masterpiece, Men Gheir Leh, was banned for its lyrics. You can ask Mahfuz about his novel Children of the Alley. You can ask Farag Foda. Now it looks like the Egyptian blogger Karim Amer is being accused of speaking his mind on religion, the government, and minorities, which are no-nos in this country.

I was not very familiar with what Karim wrote before I heard of this news. I read his last post before he was detained, and I have to say it’s very powerful. I have respect for anyone who speaks their mind when the price could be as high as their life. That is what separates heroes from bloggers like you and me. How far are you willing to take what you believe in? Fortunately, you don’t have to pay such a high price for saying your opinion; publishing your opinions on an anonymous blog should be safe.

It is very important that Karim does not spend the next 9 years of his life in jail because he exercised basic human rights; to think, question, and speak. One thing that we can do is get this some media attention. If you can think of ways to do this, why not take it to action? It won’t cost you much, but could mean a lot to a brave man.