Kareem Amer remains in prison in Egypt

Kareem is a young Egyptian blogger who was only 22 years old when he was sentenced to 4 years in prison by the Egyptian government for criticizing Islam and the President of Egypt on a personal blog. Kareem was threatened and harassed consistently for his writing, and was previously arrested prior to his sentence, all of which were attempts to silence his opinions which he should be free to express. He challenged the Egyptian government and the self-proclaimed "scholars" at the Al Azhar religious institution which he attended (and was eventually expelled from) by criticizing them and their policies. His latest arrest was on the 6th of November, 2006, and he has been in prison ever since that date. Months after that, while he was imprisoned without charges, he was formally sentenced to 4 years in prison, causing him to be the first blogger in the Arab world to be sentenced officially by a court for his blog.

Since the 6th of November, 2006, on the day of his arrest, I created FreeKareem.org to try and secure his release, and dozens of volunteers soon piled up to help out, making the campaign one of the most visible campaigns for a blogger in the world. Despite that, and the outrage expressed by thousands of people worldwide, including government officials and MPs who shamed Egypt and the Egyptian government for this gross human rights violation, Egyptian authorities failed to acknowledge this mistake. We created many campaigns over the years to help keep the mainstream media interested in covering this story, knowing that this is what the Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak is scared of most. We did through worldwide simultaneous rallies which took place in at least 150 major cities around the world, the "Flood the Jail with Mail" campaign, other letter campaigns throughout the year, #FreeKareem Twitter days, creating Free Kareem events in schools and universities around the world, involving musicians and artists, and much more.

This certainly worked in terms of raising awareness and mainstream media attention, which went wild, everywhere from the Washington Post to Czech TV. Staff at the Egyptian consulates and embassies around all these countries were certainly aware and felt the pressure multiple times throughout every year. They heard us say: We are aware of the mistake the Egyptian government has caused and we are here until you CORRECT IT. They never did. 1080 days later and they never did.

Kareem shouldn't be forgotten. He is not merely an example of what could go wrong for bloggers under oppressive regimes. He is a human being and my friend who deserves his freedom. Please help me free him, and communicate this message to the Egyptian government or journalists around the world, and perhaps to the U.S government that continues to fund this regime out of self-interest at the expense of basic human rights.

Kareem must be freed.

* For more information please visit www.FreeKareem.org and do your part to spread the word. If you Tweet this news, please use the hashtag #FreeKareem.

* Esra'a Al Shafei - Director, MideastYouth.com / FreeKareem.org