WordPress is arguably the most celebrated blogging platform with millions of people using it around the world. We did not hesitate to use it as the platform of choice for both this blog and the plugin/widget described below.

The Plugin:
A plugin is a feature that extends the capabilities of WordPress. In this case, the Free Kareem plugin gives you the ability to promote Kareem’s cause through a simple widget, which you can conviniently place anywhere on your sidebar. Download it here [Instructions.]

What it looks like:

♦ These social networking buttons will lead to Free Kareem’s Facebook and MySpace pages as well as the campaign’s YouTube and Twitter accounts. This is because not many people knew we existed on these platforms and may choose to stay in touch with us there as opposed to only this site.

♦ The “Tell a Friend” button leads you to a page where you can spread the cause via email to others.

♦ In the very near future, you will be able to do the following:

Why:
Kareem has already spent 2 years of his life in prison. Now the media treats this as “old news” for the most part. We need to make sure that Kareem’s case remains prominent. Bloggers around the world can help us achieve that by downloading this plugin.

The Author:
Michael Torbert is ranked as the #1 WordPress Plugin Developer for 2008 (based on the total number of downloads of several of his plugins), making him an easy choice for us when we wanted to include the professional involvement of a WordPress developer. Michael supported our cause immediately and we sincerely thank him for his hard work with us.

The Future:
This plugin will continue being developed further depending on the feedback we receive. We are already working on some great additional features such as pictures, ability to exclude certain aspects of the widget, ability to include an RSS feed from FreeKareem.org, and generally making it as customizable as possible. But while we do that we need some help getting the word out on this plugin!

Open Source:
Like most WordPress plugins, the files are completely open source and anyone can build upon and improve this work, and if you do, please e-mail us and let us know so we can feature your work as well.

DOWNLOAD!
You can download this plugin from WordPress.org. It supports many versions of WordPress and works with any theme!

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In a recent article featured in the Daily News Egypt, Kareem’s case is highlighted as a prominent example of Egypt’s increasing intolerance for freedom of speech:

February 2008 marked the first anniversary of the imprisonment of Kareem Amer, the first Egyptian blogger to be sentenced for his online writing. Amer’s jailing foresaw the trend described by CPJ in its annual census of journalists in prison, issued this month.

For the first time in CPJ’s prison census, online journalists represented the largest category (45 percent) of imprisoned media workers. CPJ attributes this to the “rising influence of online reporting and commentary.”

Many other examples are listed in this extensive article detailing Egypt’s punishment for anyone who dares to practice their basic right to free speech.

Despite over 2 years of worldwide protest, Egypt has yet to justify Kareem’s imprisonment with actual logic.

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In celebration of Human Rights Day, Al Jazeera is currently holding a discussion on human rights violations in the Arab world, with an emphasis on Egypt.

In the report that accompanied the discussion, Kareem was quoted as an example of a young person unjustly imprisoned for his opinions, and FreeKareem.org was featured.

We are in the process of tracking the video of this. Once we find it, we will share it here.

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Xaq Fixx of Bureaucrash, “a non-profit organization that facilitates freedom-oriented activism,” recently conducted this podcast with me about Kareem, the Free Kareem Campaign, and free speech in the Arab world. Bureaucrash members provided a lot of support for the campaign and have helped us organize several rallies for Kareem in the past two years in Washington D.C and Romania. We are grateful for their support and thank them for this podcast opportunity!

You can listen to it here.

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We were able to upgrade and refine this site with the help of Christopher Ross, a web technology specialist, who volunteered to help us with administrative assistance as a way of showing his support.

It is still a work in progress and we are trying to clean up the sidebar in IE, but we thank Chris for the much needed support!

Thanks for everything Chris, we really appreciate it!

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A few weeks ago while we were still organizing worldwide rallies, we wrote about students at Roger Williams University and the event that they were hosting in support for Kareem.

The Phoenix now has a detailed account of how the rally went:

Last week, as many Americans were celebrating the victory of Barack Obama, Heather Klink and a group of her classmates at Roger Williams University staged a vigil to protest the continued imprisonment of the Egyptian blogger known as Kareem Amer.

Klink, a senior, says she learned about Amer’s case after taking PEN, a class taught by novelist Adam Braver in which students discuss the plight of imprisoned writers. As a result, some of her classmates and she launched a group, Pens of Peace, to agitate on the same issue.

[...]

Klink says she was part of a group of about 14 students and 10 faculty members who staged a vigil at RWU last Thursday on Amer’s behalf.

“It is the kind of case that everyone should be interested in,” she tells me, “especially students,” since Amer was 22 when he was arrested. As a creative writing major, Klink says, the prospect of being imprisoned for writing something “really hits close to home for me, as it should for all students here.”

Klink says Pens for Peace has focused on trying to raise awareness about Amer’s case, to get more people involved, and that it plans next semester to try to involve some of Rhode Island’s elected officials. Egypt is a major recipient of US foreign aid, so human-rights activists hope that increased pressure could have an impact.

“My concern is that by imprisoning Kareem Amer, they’re setting an example,” Klink says, and if this goes unchallenged, it will have negative consequences for free speech in Egypt and possibly elsewhere.

Link to original article.

We thank all the students and faculty at Roger Williams University for getting involved and spreading awareness about what Kareem is going through.

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Rallies for Kareem around the world went great. Here’s an animiated short of it:

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Worldwide Protests Against Kareem Amer’s Imprisonment, by Safaa Abdoun for the Daily News Egypt:

CAIRO: Human rights activists and democracy advocates around the world protested and criticized the imprisonment of Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer, who was sentenced to four years in prison for insulting Islam and defaming Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

On Thursday Nov. 6, which marked the second anniversary of Amer’s arrest, demonstrations were held in several world capitals calling for the blogger’s release and criticizing Egypt’s violation of the citizen’s right to freedom of expression.

The demonstrations were organized by the Free Kareem Coalition, an online “campaign to free the brave Egyptian blogger,” according to the website.

Holding up banners and posters with phrases such as “Shame on Egypt” and “Respect Human Rights,” human rights activists stood in front of Egyptian embassies and consulates in New York, San Francisco, Tel Aviv, Rome and Brussels, among other cities worldwide.

Pete Eyre, organizer of the rally in Washington DC, told Beirut-based website MENASSAT that their event was a “success.”

“There were 18 people who showed up to help spread the word about Kareem and vocalize their opposition to government-imposed censorship. Foot traffic in the area was moderate, and we handed out around 350 flyers,” he was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, Soviet dissident and democracy advocate Natan Sharansky strongly criticized the Egyptian authorities for Amer’s imprisonment.

“Freedom of speech is an inalienable right. Suppressing that right contravenes human decency and makes a mockery of the democratic ideal.

“We strongly condemn Egypt’s brazen assault on human liberty. Repression and autocracy must be castigated in no uncertain terms. Aid to a regime which denies its citizens basic rights is both counter-productive and immoral. We call on the Egyptian government to immediately release Kareem Amer and the many dissidents who bravely speak out in the name of freedom,” said Sharansky, who is currently, chairman of the Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies at Jerusalem’s Shalem Center, in a statement to the press.

Twenty-four year old Amer, who was expelled from Al Azhar University, was arrested on Nov. 6, 2006 in his hometown, Alexandria. He was sentenced to three years in prison on Feb. 22, 2007 for his blog entries, which the court considered to be insulting to Islam and defaming to President Mubarak.

At the time, Amnesty International described his arrest as “a slap in the face of freedom of expression in Egypt.”

He is currently serving his sentence at Borg El-Arab prison on the North Coast in Alexandria. Amer has served half of his sentence, which makes him eligible for release if the state decides.

Last Thursday, Gamal Eid, director of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, visited Amer and was reportedly appalled by the conditions of the prison, saying that detainees are harassed by the police officers.

“There are no laws governing this prison, any new state security officer can run it by his own laws. This is a matter of shame to the Ministry of Interior, which leaves prisoners as the victims of officers who have no respect for the law,” Eid said in a statement released by ANHRI

Link to original article.

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Andrew Gimber did a great job organizing a Free Kareem rally in London, despite the short notice! We are truly grateful for the support he and fellow rally participants gathered as well as their commitment to spread awareness on Kareem’s case. Thanks Andew again for your involvement, and for everyone else who helped out and participated in this rally! Your efforts will not go unnoticed.

Some photos and a summary of the event (cross-posted from the Oxford Libertarian Society Blog) are below:

Last Thursday afternoon, student representatives from Oxford, UCL and the LSE converged on the Egyptian Embassy in London to protest the continued imprisonment of Kareem Amer.

As officials scurried between their cars and the Embassy, they were greeted not only by the London drizzle but also by defiant chants of “Free Kareem!” We also caught the attention of the staff working on the upper floors of the Embassy, who didn’t seem to appreciate the vocal aspect of our protest.

Unlike last year, no officials came out to speak to us, but a young man from the adjacent office came over to ask who Kareem was. He seemed nervous, as if afraid to be seen talking to us. After we explained to him what we were protesting about, he expressed sympathy for Kareem’s plight, but was (quite understandably) reluctant to sign our petition. A sad reminder of the shadow of fear cast by the Egyptian government, even over its own employees.

A couple of passers-by stopped to ask about Kareem’s case, and kindly added their names to the petition. At the end of the rally, we attempted to deliver our petition (with 51 names) to a member of Embassy staff, hoping to discuss Kareem’s case. We tried at the entrance at 26 South Street, but the man who opened the door resisted our attempts to hand him the petition as if it were a live cobra. We got a very similar reaction at the entrance round the corner on South Audley Street, so in the end we had to settle for posting our petition through the letterbox.

Many thanks to everyone who attended this year’s protest, and to those who contributed to the petition. I hope to see as many people as possible at the next rally.

Great job everyone!

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The National Geographic featured Kareem in their global freedom of speech essay.

Here is a scanned copy of it, thanks to Fayrouz for sending this in!

(Click the image to see the full article.)

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