Roger L. Simon: Free Abdel Kareem!

The pseudonymous Egyptian blogger Sandmonkey of Rantings of a Sandmonkey has an extremely moving article in Pajamas today about the sentencing of his fellow Egyptian blogger Abdel Kareem Soliman. Abdel Kareem (also spelled Karim) was given four years for "contempt for religion" and "insulting the president". He could easily be killed in jail by a religious fanatic, according to the Sandmonkey, if he doesn't go crazy in solitary first.

It's frustrating to read stories like this. You want to do something, but you don't know how. I quickly clicked onto the websites of Human Rights Watch and PEN (of which I was once the West Coast president), hoping they could do something, but found no references to Abdel Kareem under either spelling. Maybe I missed something. I checked Atrios and the Daily Kos as well, but nothing there either about their fellow blogger. Perhaps they are unaware of what is happening. You would think this was a situation that would transcend domestic politics - the guy's going to the slammer - but so far apparently not. Lots of stuff on Kos though about how Giuliani's numbers can't last and how he's going to implode. Sounds a little like some commenters on here.

Me, I'm more worried at the moment about Abdel Kareem. I have visited Al Azhar where he was a student until he opened his mouth and have some sense of what level of cojones that took. More than almost any of us have. And speaking of cojones, feminine division, I am just finishing Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran. I had read the first fifty pages a while back and just picked it up again. Now I can't put it down. I think it's some kind of masterpiece - one of those works like Nadezhda Mandelstam's Hope Against Hope that gives you a true glimpse of what it's like to live under totalitarianism. Interesting that they are both written by women.

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If Kos hasn't said "Screw him" about Abdel Kareem, that's probably the most support he's gonna give.

It's unfortunate that Mr. Soliman's case is being ignored by the left, but he doesn't their purposes, so what do you expect?

I am also incredibly frustrated with this situation. The solution hasn't come yet, and I don't think Egypt will like it when it does, because *this* goes beyond the bounds of what they (Egypt) has agreed...

There are at least three online petitions for release of Kareem. The main one is sponsored by HAMSA (Hands Across the Mideast Support Alliance).

FreeKareem.org is a great source of information, including reports and photos from rallies for Kareem around the world. Cato's Tom Palmer has been posting a lot about Kareem, too.

I have links to these and other sources at my latest post about Kareem. I hope everyone who reads this will do a little something about this outrageous injustice -- at least take a minute to add your name to a petition. Thanks!

Roger - I guess this HRW report on Abdelkareem, linked to from their front page, isnt enough for you?

And the new "free Kareem" website, of course. They're holding rallies for him. Ironically, the only Arab country holding a rally is Bahrain...

It is an interesting phenomena, the lack of concern for civil rights in the greater world by the port side of the blogisphere.
It reminds me of when Bill Clinton was in hospital for triple bypass surgery. I was spending time at Atrios needling them about John Kerry's disappearing act in the wake of the swiftboat ads, and I noticed Duncan never posted a mention of President Clinton's heart attack, to wish him well or anything. It made me curious so I went down Atrios' blog roll to look for other liberal websites who might be sending out a "get well quick Bill" message. Never found any. Except on the rightwing blogs.
They are too wrapped up in the "me". How does it affect me? How does it hurt my candidate? Will it make my side stronger?
They don't have any time for other guy.

Here is both Amnesty and HRW appealing for his release at the beginning of the trial. In the Guardian. But disregard of course, because both the Guardian and HRW/Amnesty have an inherant leftist/islamist bias and can't be trusted.

It seems to me that the difference between the left and the right when it comes to these cases is that the right only seem to care about Human Rights in "enemy" countries. Org's like HRW and Amnesty care about Human Rights everywhere, so their resources, and attention, are spread a little thin. But at least they consistently care about the principle of fundamental human rights for everyone, not just the enemies of our enemies.

Someone should run a comparison of the media coverage for David Hicks (probable terrorist) versus Abdel Kareem Soliman (innocent journalist).

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Oh puhleaze. The only time the left seems to care about human rights is when it works for their agenda. In other words, they probably think of Egypt as an American ally.

Reading Lolita in Tehran is very good. I read it some time ago and was impressed by the atuthor's intelligence and her wonderful use of language. But then again she is a lit professor.

BTW, I understand that Saddam had threatened to exterminate the Kurds when he got those silly Americans out of the way. I wonder what Human Rights Watch would have done about that? A tongue lashing perhaps. Of course Amnesty International is too busy comparing the plight of a few hundred terrorists in Gitmo to that of 35 million in the Gulags to do much more than pay lip service to the fate of a blogger.

Terrye - Amnesty and HRW do more human rights work in more places in the world than anyone.

Too many right wing bloggers talk about these organisations as if they are enemies. Jules Crittenden even has them alongside Ahmadinejad and North Korea in his "enemies" blogroll.

Its just crazy beyond words. We shouldnt have to argue about this, given the situation the world is in.

I don't even know what the whining about lefties not reporting Clinton's heartattack was supposed to mean. I guess we hate him because he's a bornagain Christian, or something.

This could have been something on which people agreed, but judging by the comments here it's just being used as an excuse to flog "the Left" while misrepresenting HRW, PEN, And Amnesty International. That Clinton heart attack was a little off-topic, don't you think?

I voted for Democrats for nearly twenty years, always thinking it was the right thing to do.

The viciousness that the Left has shown in the last few years towards free elections in Iraq has ensured that I will never, ever vote for a Democrat again.

Simon slandered PEN, HRW, and Amnesty International in his post, and then the commentators pitched in to tell us about Clinton's heart attack plus what you just said about your personal history.

You're just fingerpointing and expressing feelings which have nothing to do with the weak post. I fear that if I stick around much longer I'll be hearing about your problems with your wife and your mother too.

The fact that Roger just got it completely, undeniably wrong doesn't even come into play here? Roger, how about updating your post?

This is the Pajamas Media standard of factual accuracy? Khamenei is dead and HRW never spoke of Abdelkareem....Yeah guys, its the MSM that is too biased to report objective facts....

John E, I bet your another port side blogger who didn't send well wishes out to President Bill during his time of illness. Don't wipe your guilty conscious on me.
Own it.

February 24, 2007: Free Abdel Kareem!

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