Waiting for justice.

An Arab human rights group reported that the imprisoned Egyptian blogger, Karim (Kareem) Amer, is in poor condition. The Egyptian government, in an attempt to squash critical thinking, jailed the 24 year-old blogger, and has denied him visitors, among other mistreatment described below.

This is a gross crime and I am ashamed the democracy-loving Bush administration has made no mention of their Egyptian ally’s crime in this case. For more info, see the FreeKareem website.

Imprisoned author Karim Amer in poor state of health, harassed and denied
basic rights

SOURCE: Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), Cairo

(ANHRI/IFEX) – ANHRI reports from the Borg Al-Arab prison, in the
Alexandrian desert, that Karim Amer, an author imprisoned for exercising
his freedom of expression, has been subjected to significant ill-treatment.

ANHRI’s lawyer Rawda Ahmed visited Amer in prison on 30 August 2008. She
was shocked to find him in a poor state of health. He told her that the
prison administration has prevented him from going out of his cell to the
prison yard to gain exposure to sunlight like other prisoners and that he
has been harassed by fellow prison inmates, who were ordered to do so by
the administration. Some of his books have also been seized from his cell..

Ahmed noticed that Amer suffers from double-standard treatment in prison.
For example, during visits, he is treated according to the strict rules
that apply to political prisoners, but he is held in the criminal prisoners
division, where he is treated like them and, therefore, deprived of his
rights as a political prisoner.

The ill-treatment of Karim Amer is not just from the prison
administration’s side. It has extended to the Prosecution Office, which has
declined to file his case, which his lawyers from ANHRI presented ten
months ago. Since then, no investigation has taken place, even though the
case has been brought to the attention of the Prosecutor General.

ANHRI demands that Karim Amer be treated like any ordinary prisoner inside
the jail, with neither special treatment nor constraints, until the court
rules on his appeal. ANHRI also expresses hope that the court will be fair
after the experience of Amer’s trials at the First Degree Court and Court
of Appeal.

Updates the Amer case: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/91444

For further information contact Gamal Eid, Executive Director, ANHRI,
Apartment 10, No. 5, Street 105, from Midan al Hurriya, Al Maadi, Cairo,
Egypt, tel/fax: +202 2 524 9544, e-mail: info@anhri.net,
gamal4eid@yahoo.com, Internet: http://www.anhri.net/en/

The information contained in this update is the sole responsibility of
ANHRI. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit
ANHRI.
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Related posts:

1. Egypt Torturing Blogger
2. The War on Blogging
3. Al-Arian Suffers Under Deplorable Prison Conditions
4. Dr. Al-Arian Transfered to Custody of Immigration Authorities on Friday
5. The Real Criminals are in Power