Help Kareem Now

We've written about the jailed Egyptian blogger known as Kareem before. Now the people who are working for his release are asking that people "flood the jail with mail" so that Kareem and his jailers will know that the world is watching. I hope you'll take a moment to help.

Kareem attended a conference for Arabic liberal and libertarian bloggers and writers in 2006, when he was 21 years old. Within months he was arrested and sentenced. He has served more than 3/4 of a four-year sentence for writing about freedom, democracy, and women's rights on his blog, and yet he still has not been released. He has suffered not only the loss of his freedom, but continuing abuse. It is important to let the Egyptian authorities know he is not forgotten. Please help by writing to him. And please follow the guidelines and not include anything incendiary or likely to lead to his being harmed further.

As Tom Palmer and Raja Kamal wrote in the Washington Post, "People should be free to express their opinions without fear of being imprisoned or killed. Blogging should not be a crime."

In 2008 students at the first convention of Students for Liberty rallied for Kareem on the steps of Columbia University (at right). Others around the world, on the web and in person, have tried to keep a light shining on Kareem's case. But it's hard to maintain such a campaign for years, as the Egyptian authorities refuse to let this young man go. Don't let them think that no one notices.

More details about the case can be found here.