What if they arrested a blogger and nobody cared?
4 Comments Published by Tom Gara on Tuesday, April 17 at Tuesday, April 17, 2007.
(Updated below...)
Another Egyptian blogger and journalist has been arrested for saying the wrong things. This time round, it is Abdel Moneim Mahmoud, a Muslim Brotherhood blogger who writes for the Ikhwanweb site. Arabawy has a series of posts going through the background to this.
It isn't surprising to see this happen - but it is surprising to see the lack of concern among the same people who were pretty loudly expressing their dismay at the arrest and imprisonment of Abdelkareem Soliman.
The big difference between the two? Abdelkareem was heavily anti-Islamic in his writings and Mahmoud blogs for the Muslim Brotherhood. Thats all I can really see.
Ironically, Mahmoud actually got some attention for writing in support of Abdelkareem. Just for some context here, lets remember Abdelkareem is the guy who wrote that
UPDATE - the Free Kareem site now has a big post on Mahmoud. And check the comments to this post - Esra'a Al Shafei, director of the Free Kareem Coalition posted a couple of good ones, along with one from Egyptian blogfather Alaa as well...
Another Egyptian blogger and journalist has been arrested for saying the wrong things. This time round, it is Abdel Moneim Mahmoud, a Muslim Brotherhood blogger who writes for the Ikhwanweb site. Arabawy has a series of posts going through the background to this.
It isn't surprising to see this happen - but it is surprising to see the lack of concern among the same people who were pretty loudly expressing their dismay at the arrest and imprisonment of Abdelkareem Soliman.
The big difference between the two? Abdelkareem was heavily anti-Islamic in his writings and Mahmoud blogs for the Muslim Brotherhood. Thats all I can really see.
Ironically, Mahmoud actually got some attention for writing in support of Abdelkareem. Just for some context here, lets remember Abdelkareem is the guy who wrote that
"For as long as Islam exists on this planet all your efforts to end wars and disputes and upheavals will fail because Islam’s dirty finger will be found behind every catastrophic event to humanity."Despite saying about the nastiest thing you can possibly say about his religion, Abdelkareem was defended by Mahmoud (who is, remember, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood). Mahmoud said:
"I disagree with Abdul Kareem Amer’s views. However, I do not disagree, at all, that this security practice is unjust towards a youth in the prime of his life. Punishing him, or punishing others having their opinions, will not succeed in changing their ideas."So far, I haven't seen much support for Mahmoud from any of the usual defenders of free speech. Most disappointing is that it hasn't even been mentioned by the pretty widely publicised Free Kareem site, which was happy to publish Mahmoud's defense of Abdelkareem when it was useful. Here's to hoping this situation changes, fast.
UPDATE - the Free Kareem site now has a big post on Mahmoud. And check the comments to this post - Esra'a Al Shafei, director of the Free Kareem Coalition posted a couple of good ones, along with one from Egyptian blogfather Alaa as well...
you know when we where campaigning for the release of salafi preacher abu islam, kareem posted comments expressing support for his arrest.
so while monem wrote in solidarity with kareem, I doubt kareem would have done the same.
while I'm worried monem will not get the same support we should wait a bit before we jump to conclusions, abdol karim's case was a lengthy one and the campaign took time to grow.
I'm optimistic about this one
You should not expect others to take action but yourself.
That is the main reason why the Free Kareem campaign had successful public relations and media coverage. We worked very hard, and we just simply cannot do all the work. If you are interested, you should start a campaign and we can collaborate. But please do not wait for others to take action (And blame them when they don't) when I have yet to see an official campaign for Abdel Monem. The Free Kareem campaign is called Free Kareem, not Free All Bloggers. Please do not expect us to do everything. We are very concerned about this and of course he has all of our support and sympathy, but we are not any more responsible than you are for spreading the word about this.
Also, I would encourage you to read the "Why Kareem, what about the others?" page which we have published about this. Here is an excerpt -
The first report about Kareem did not gain any attention and no one cared much for it - but consistency was the trick. Please don’t assume that the media has no interest in the others, if you feel that any other person deserves this much attention then follow our lead and do something about it. Sacrifice your free time, your work hours, your sleep, and your security for it. This is what many of us did, which is why it lead to the attention. We believe that if any person or team put this much effort, huge movements could result due to it, so we strongly encourage others to do the same.
I did it for Kareem because he is my friend. We should not be held responsible each time someone gets arrested, why do people wait for others to take action while they do not put any efforts themselves? It's not that hard to start a campaign. Once you have that, we can exchange links and collaborate. But we will not do all the work because that is not our responsibility at all.
Esra'a
I may have came across the wrong way - I wasnt meaning to say that the same people behind the campaigning for Abdelkareem should be leading the campaign for Abdel Moneim.
I just feel that a lot of the international support for abdelkareem came from people more interested in supporting the rights of someone who trash talked islam. maybe i'll be proven wrong (I hope I am) - but a think plenty of these people will be less eager to support a Muslim Brotherhood blogger.
What you guys did for Abdelkareem was amazing, and I have so much respect for it.