Egyptian blogger to face military tribunal for writing a post critical of military academy

The Egyptian government frequently uses military courts for cases it deems security issues, circumventing due process.

Here's what the blogger Meit has to say (Arabic): http://43arb.info/meit/?p=1671

Publisher detained for Gaddafi book

Police briefly detained a publisher of a book criticizing Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, according to an AFP report citing Gamal Eid, director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information.

The Egyptian author of the book "The Leader Cuts His Hair," Idris Ali, was also wanted for questioning, said Eid.

The AFP wrote:
"Ali's book is a memoir of several years he spent working in Libya.

Police arrested the book's publisher, Gumeili Ahmed Shehata, in Cairo and took him to a nearby station."

Egypt banned insults against leaders of friendly states until 2006, when its law was narrowed down to forbid insults against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Eid said."

Anti-sectarian bloggers and activists detained

Several bloggers were detained at the Naga Hammadi train station when they arrived on Saturday following the killing of six deacons outside of a church on Orthodox Christmas, according Pakinam Amer of Al-Masry Al-Youm. One blogger said she slept on a cold floor in jail and was left without food or drink for ten hours. They were released after a day. When they returned to Cairo, they gathered at the Hisham Mubarak Law Center to discuss what happened.
“We weren’t going to do anything political. We were just going to pay our respects,” said Mostafa el-Naggar, who helped organize the trip. Then he laughed and added, “We had leftists and Nasserists and Islamists and Christians. It was all of Egypt in that jail cell.” Ashraf Khalil reports that the state press has largely ignored the sectarian element of the story, focusing on revenge killings in Upper Egypt.

Human rights activist in jail; report accuses US of helping oppress human rights in the Arab world

Amnesty International is calling for the release of Egyptian novelist and human rights activist Musaad Abu Fagr, who has been in detention since February 15, 2008. His wife Shaimaa has a blog about the ordeal here.

Also see this great story by Saif Nasrawi about US-backed Arab governments against human rights. The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) released its second annual report on Tuesday about this topic.

The author and publisher of the Metro graphic novel has each been fined £E 5,ooo and issues of the novel have been confiscated. The Misdemeanor Court of Qasr El Nil ruled the novel is immoral to the public.

Three human rights organizations published the press release condemning the ruling:
Arabic Network for Human Rights Information
Association of Freedom of Thought and Expression
Hisham Mubarek Law Center

The release did not cite which parts of the novel were deemed immoral, but regardless, the ruling is certainly against freedom of expression.

Blogger denied university entrance

Blogger Amr Salama was denied admission to Sinai University and was interrogated about his political writings when he applied to the Canadian University in Cairo, according to statements he gave to Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, or ANHRI. His blog "Lesa 3aish" touches politically sensitive issues such as Egypt's prevention of humanitarian aid to Palestine and treatment of Bedouins. ANHRI said that Egyptian security had previously forced the closing of his blog.

BBC: UN stifles Internet debate in Egypt

According to the BBC and a video on youtube the UN forced the removal of a poster promoting Internet freedom at a conference in Sharm El Sheikh on Internet governance.