Egypt Arrests More Bloggers

2think writes "The BBC is reporting that after bloggers highlighted recent public sexual harassment within view of Egyptian police, the government of Egypt has been arresting bloggers." From the article: "The most recently detained blogger, Abdel Kareem Nabil, was detained in Alexandria on 6 November and was charged with disrupting public order, inciting religious hatred and defaming the president. Amnesty International says Mr Amer appeared to have been detained for expressing critical views about Islam and Egypt's al-Azhar religious authorities."

Comments

Seems like a trend

[Josh Lindenmuth]

It should be no surprise that countries with little or no protection of free speech are arresting people for their comments online. Many bloggers use their real names (or make it easy for police to trace them. The people who would be arrested for public dissent should not be surprised if they are arrested for dissent online ... I would hope that many of these people relish the thought of being arrested for blogging, as it sometimes creates worldwide recognition to their cause or their plight.

It certainly seems that blogger arrests are on the rise, such as the recent Greek blogger arrested for content he didn't write, and the constant string of arrested bloggers and other internet users in China (such as documentary filmmaker Hao Wu). This is probably an indication that Governments are just now learning about the influence commanded by a popular blogger rather than a change in policies around the globe ... it's not like governments are quick to catch up with technical trends.

Re:Seems like a trend

[Marxist Hacker 42]

Which is of course against profit- and since they can't sacrifice profit, free speech will be sacrificed instead. Americans are rather weak on ideals, but they're strong on the worship of money. This links back to the article in question because the blogger is a well known socialist and atheist.

Re:Seems like a trend

[flyingsquid]

It doesn't seem to me that the Egyptian Gov't went out of its way to nab this guy

Read between the lines. Of course the Egyptian government claimed it was random and a routine part of a security initiative. Seriously, what do you expect the Egyptian government to say? "In a targeted operation against political dissidents, we arrested members coming out of an opposition party's headquarters and took them away on bullshit charges, so that we wouldn't have to openly debate their ideas, and so we could discourage other people from speaking out".

It's exactly the same deal when the White House moves protesters to a "Free Speech Zone" (a name straight out of 1984) so nobody can hear them. They're never in a million years going to come out and admit they're trying to stifle dissent, they're going to claim it's for the safety of the public and the safety of the protestors themselves.

Re:Freedom of speech, or freedom to hate?

[Anonymous Coward]

Anyway, if you defend this guy, you're being played like a fiddle by the very forces that seek to destroy Western culture. Happy defending, Free Speechnauts!

On the contrary, if you choose not to defend this person's free speech, you are personally doing what you can do to destroy the bedrock value of Western culture. You can argue against his ideas. But when you support his imprisonment for those ideas, you might as well move to Egypt. You clearly don't support the values of Western culture. You actually appear to be a force seeking to destroy Western culture.

Re:Freedom of speech, or freedom to hate?

[Marxist Hacker 42]

That the blogger was anti-Islam seems to be totally irrelevant since Egypt is a secular state (much like Turkey).

Interesting definition of a secular state- do you think they'll be abandoning the Koran in their constitutions anytime soon? Or will the Turks accept the Kurds and the remaining few Armenians with open arms? I think if they did, they could help solve one of President Bush's major problems by annexing the northern third of Iraq. I'm now convinced that America has no friends in the middle east- only trading partners controlled by the enemy of us all, the petroleum corporations.

nothing yet?

[c6gunner]

What's going on here? Not a single comment blaming this on the Iraq war? Nobody trying to tell us that the US is a much worse police state? Wow. Must be an off-day for the slashdot trolls.