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

[TubeSteak]

First: not everyone in the world has a government that allows them the same free speech rights as [your wonderful country here]

Second: I imagine that the blogger knew that criticizing government officials &/or Islam was a bad career move.

As usual, TFA isn't that informative.
Google News will usually lead you to a much better (Reuters) article

Here's the essentials:
Egyptian police detained an opposition blogger in a chance security check on Sunday, a human rights group said.

Blogger Rami Siyam, ..., was detained with three other bloggers leaving a friend's house... The four had been visiting Mohamed el-Sharkawi, himself a blogger who was detained in late July and held for almost three months.

The area is home to the opposition Ghad (Tomorrow) party's headquarters, and security was especially tight in preparation for President Hosni Mubarak's speech to parliament on Sunday.

Police asked the four for identification.... They told Siyam their records showed he faced a court case in Sharkia province, and he would be transferred there for further checks. The other three were released.

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

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.

Why bloggers are being arrested...

[bluesangria]

Simple. They witnessed an incident of rioting and mass sexual assaults occurring just after Ramadan during the festival of Eid. The bloggers were witnesses to the police standing by idly while gangs of frenzied men randomly attacked countless women. It was not just "harassment" (such a polite term). It was physical and sexual assaults, beatings, clothes tearing, and rape. It was so bad that shopkeepers and taxi drivers were having to hide women in their shops and cars to protect them from the mobs. The bloggers (many of them men themselves) were outraged.
The Egyptian government was embarrassed, but its response was to completely deny the incident and censor its press from reporting it. Hence, the outrage came out in the blogs. Note that this happened almost 4 weeks ago on Oct 24 and it's just NOW starting to come out. The government has also taken the stance that the bloggers are trying to "humiliate" Egypt and Islam by talking about the incidence and that's why they are persecuted. Please read these articles for more information

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/15/world/africa/15c airo.html

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=56301& SelectRegion=Middle_East

http://www.sandmonkey.org/2006/10/30/the-eid-sexua l-harassment-incident/