Kareem Nabil Sulaiman, a 24 years old Egyptian man, was arrested November 6th, 2006 for expressing himself. He posted on his blog his opinion concerning Islam and Mubarack, the Egyptian President. The government sentenced him for a total of four years: three for insulting Islam and one for doing the same thing to Mubarack. The government reasoned their decision also by stating that his actions brought down Egypt’s reputation.
Responding to this case, some people started a site called “Free Kareem”. For the second “anniversary” of the period Kareem was in jail, this group of people, which has expanded, started protests in many different parts of the world, including Paris, San Francisco, Rome, London, Brussels, Stockholm, Berlin, Bucharest, Washington DC, New York, Berne, Rhode Island, etc. In these places, groups of people gathered together around the Egyptian embassies to protest in favor of Kareem’s freedom.
This article touches many subjects. In my opinion, when the Muslims arrest or kill someone for criticizing them, they just bring their reputation even lower and cause others to express their opinions about this religion. This is what happened in this case, where a Muslim government arrests someone for saying something bad about Islam, in order to not hurt their reputation. But, by doing that, they hurt it even more.
In my opinion, it is not fair that such a big group of people protest only for one prisoner that is an example of the violation of freedom of speech, when there are thousands of other prisoners that were in jail for much longer and not for only four years, like in Russia, China, or Turkey.
I really like the way ben explained the article becuase it was very clear and I was able to understand what had happened with just this sinopsis. Also I agree with him in the fact that muslim officials get their reputation even lower when they decide to imprision people like this. But what I don’t understand is how defending Kareem in other countries is a violation of the freedom of speech.
Comment by carlotamoto — November 11, 2008 @ 6:33 am
Interesting story. I like that you both summarized the story and offer your thoughts. I’m particularly interested in your last comment: that such global outrage is “unfair” when other prisoners suffer worse fates. Why do you think that is? What prompted all these people to react to one and not the other?
Comment by bb — November 11, 2008 @ 8:21 am
I really enjoyed reading your entry. You write very well and your ideas are well structured and developed.
I do agree with you that a reputation declines when, for example like you said, muslims arrest someone for criticizing them but really it just brings the reputation lower.
I also think though that in the first place, people have the right to have their own opinion and they are allowed to share it with others as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else, which in this case it does.
But, on the other hand, blogs are a way to express yourself and i think that muslims should respect that Kareem Nabil Sulaiman has his own opinion.
This is a difficult topic to argue because both sides have certain rights but also both sides have either exaggerated or offended others.
Comment by cherries34 — November 11, 2008 @ 5:06 pm