Kareem Amer freed after serving a prison term for insulting Islam and defaming Egypt’s president. Ashraf Khalil reports
Egyptian blogger released after four years in jail
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CATEGORY: Middle East and North Africa
Egyptian blogger released after four years in jail
Online free expression activists around the world are rejoicing at the news that jailed Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer has been freed and had returned to his family’s Alexandria home. Amer won the Hugo Young Award for Journalism at the Index on...
Palestine’s ‘Atheist blogger’ behind bars
Waleed Al-Husseini has been making waves and offending religious sensibilities in the Middle East for years. A committed atheist, the 26 year-old resident of the occupied West Bank is known for a prolific online presence --- much of which centres...
Egypt: Blogger beaten and held beyond release date
Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman, better known by his blogging name, Kareem Amer, was due to be freed on 5 November after completing a four-year jail sentence for criticising the government. Instead, he has been held illegally for the past five days,...
Iran: Journalist held in solitary confinement
The mother of journalist Nazanin Khosravani, who was arrested last week, says her daughter is being held in solitary confinement at Tehran's notorious Evin prison. Azam Afsharian told Radio Free Europe that in a short phone call Khosravani had said...
Libya: Ten journalists detained
The authorities have arrested 10 journalists employed by a news agency run by a son of Muammar Gaddafi. Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is seen as a reformist and has been increasingly critical of his father's government. The six men and four women were...
Middle East media round up
Morocco’s on-again off-again ban on the Al Jazeera satellite news channel is apparently on again. The kingdom is famously touchy about certain issues --- last year it banned a magazine for publishing an opinion poll about King Mohammed II’s...
Bahraini blogger on trial in sweeping Shia crackdown
Ali Abdulemam’s trial is an important test case for free speech in the Middle East. Ashraf Khalil explains why
Release the “blogfather”
Egypt tightens the screw
Polictical uncertainty pushes the government to roll recent free speech gains and muzzle independent voices. Ashraf Khalil asks, will Facebook be next?