'I think.. therefore I am.. in prison...'

A few days ago, my friend Abu Kareem published a post highlighting the plight of a fellow-blogger, who is being penalized by the Egyptian authorities for no crime other than expressing his thoughts..

As a Syrian blogging community, we felt that we cannot stand and simply watch, without trying to help Abdel Kareem Soliman (a.k.a. 'Kareem Amer' ) in this time of suffering..

Abu Kareem, with his well-recognised enthusiasm, and his well-known insistence on standing by his convictions, started a web-base campaign to try and help Kareem..

I am privileged to post a copy of his article on my blog..

Please visit Abu Kareem's blog, leave a comment, and copy-and-paste his article on to your blog.. You can leave a comment here as well if you wish..

And here is what Abu Kareem said:

We, as a community of Syrian bloggers, condemn the arrest and sentencing of Egyptian blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil Soliman for the peaceful expression of his dissenting views. We ask the Egyptian government to reconsider its decision to arrest and prosecute Abdel Kareem. The stated reasons for their action include the preservation of the public peace and state security, and the prevention of incitement against Islam. We contend that his arrest will achieve neither. Silencing such dissenting voices as Abdel Kareem’s, serves only to strengthen the hands of extremists who will not shy away from violence to achieve their goals. Moreover, we remind the Egyptian government that his arrest and prosecution violates at least two articles (see below) of the 1948 United Nations universal declaration of human rights to which Egypt was a signatory.Relevant United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights articles:Article 18. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.Article 19. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.Such rights for freedom of expression are also enshrined in the 1990 Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam and the 2003 Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the World's religion

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