Free Abdel-Karim Nabil Suleiman

A lot of things can happen in nine months. Babies are born, a football season runs its course, and Egypt jails another blogger.

In May 2006 we rallied around Alaa Seif al-Islam Abd al-Fattah in the Free Alaa campaign after he was imprisoned by Mbaruk’s regime for speaking his mind. Alaa’s campaign was well supported by the Kenyan blogosphere perhaps because we drew comparisons between what was going on in Egypt and our Internal Security minister, John Muchuki, who had recently launched his campaign to intimidate Kenyans.

Now the Egyptian authorities are at it again.

Abdel-Karim Nabil Suleiman, 22, a former law student at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, was sentenced to four years in prison by a court in Alexandria yesterday after being arrested last November over eight articles he posted on his blog …

Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said: “This sets a chilling precedent in a country where blogs have opened a window for free speech. The Egyptian government should abide by its commitments to uphold free expression and release Suleiman without delay.” Amnesty International called it “yet another slap in the face of freedom for expression in Egypt”.

This is Egyptian remember. Egypt. That historical centre of intellectual debate and thought, that ancient centre of learning, that home of scientific discovery. And this current regime can’t handle one young man speaking his mind. This is ridiculous. And to think his university actually pushed for him to be given a harsher sentence. Madness.

Join the Free Karim campaign and while you’re at it have a look at his blog. OK I do not read Arabic, but a guy posting song lyrics and YouTube music videos as well as sharing his opinions on politics does not strike me as an enemy of the state. Just a university student speaking his mind.