Free Kareem

[talkinghead]

As many of you may know, Abdelkareem Nabil Soliman, a 22 year old former student of Al-Azhar University in Egypt, was sentenced to four years in prison for crimes against Islam and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. His "crimes" were critical statements made on his blog concerning what he saw as extremism at Al-Azhar and the treatment of women in his country, among other things. In a true disgrace to universities everywhere, officials at Al-Azhar actually turned him in. Despite his sentencing there is still action that can be taken. Websites such as freekareem.org and tomgpalmer.com have information concerning petitions and protests on behalf of Kareem. For those of you on Facebook there are at least two groups devoted to the cause. We can also write respectful (that cannot be stressed enough) letters to the Egyptian Embassy as well as to our own representatives asking for them to write letters on Kareem's behalf. So far only two US Representatives, Barney Frank and Trent Franks, have been brave enough to formally petition the Egyptian government. On behalf of full disclosure I should say that I am a libertarian and will now probably be kicked off of DU. I would hope that this wouldn't happen though as I think many of us could engage in civilized and mutually beneficial debate. But above all, please help Kareem regain his freedom.