Background

Condemn the Four-Year Sentence of Egyptian Blogger Karim Amer

Amnesty International condemns the four-year sentence handed down by an Egyptian court Feb. 22 against blogger Karim Amer and calls for his immediate and unconditional release. Amer was convicted of charges of "spreading information disruptive of public order and damaging to the country's reputation", "incitement to hate Islam" and "defaming the President of the Republic" in Alexandra?s Moharram Beik Misdemeanor Court. The sentence was upheld March 13 by The Alexandria Appeals Court.

Karim Amer was charged under Articles 102, 176 and 179 of Egypt?s Penal Code. Amnesty International has been urging the Egyptian authorities to review or abolish this and other legislation that, in violation of international standards, stipulates prison sentences for the mere exercise of the rights of freedom of expression, thought, conscience and religion.

Amnesty International is concerned that the conviction and sentence is intended to silence all forms of freedom of speech, and bloggers in particular. This is important because bloggers have played an increasing role is publicizing information about human rights abuses in Egypt.

Karim Amer was first detained by the Egyptian authorities for 12 days in October 2005 because of his writings on his blog (karam903.blogspot.com ? in Arabic) about Islam and the sectarian riots which took place in the same month in Alexandria's Maharram Bek district. These riots followed reports that the video of a play believed to be anti-Islam was being screened in a Coptic church in the district.

After he was charged and released, disciplinary measures were taken against him and he was dismissed from al-Azhar University in March 2006. The university's disciplinary board found him guilty of blaspheming Islam.

He was summoned to appear before the office of the Public Prosecutor in Maharram Bek district of the city of Alexandria on 7 November 2006 following a complaint made against him by al-Azhar University. The Public Prosecutor ordered his detention for four days on 7 November, which was later extended for a further 15 days, to allow further time for investigation. He has remained in detention since then following a series of extensions. While in detention, he was kept in solitary confinement and in incommunicado detention and was only allowed limited visits by family and friends.

Amer is the first Egyptian blogger to be convicted for his writings, but Egyptian authorities have previously targeted other bloggers for harassment. Alaa Ahmed Seif al-Islam was arrested May 7, 2006, while taking part in a peaceful protest in support of two judges threatened with removal from the bench for exposing electoral fraud and also to call for the release of protesters detained in earlier demonstrations. He was held in administrative detention under authority of Egypt?s State of Emergency legislation and released June 20, 2006.

The harassment of bloggers appears to be part of what Amnesty International considers a long-standing effort by Egyptian authorities to muzzle civil society. Journalists, writers, human rights defenders, non-governmental organization (NGO) activists and political activists have been and continue to be particularly at risk of being detained in connection with ''offenses'' which merely amount to the exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and association.