A
prominent Egyptian blogger who was imprisoned for four years for insulting
Islam and defaming President Hosni Mubarak has been released.
The
case of Abdel Kareem Nabil Soliman, often known as Kareem Amer, highlighted
early government restrictions on political bloggers.
He
was the first Egyptian convicted specifically for his writing online.
Human
rights groups and opposition figures had campaigned for him to be freed.
The
Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), which represented the blogger
in court, said he was in bad health and was beaten by security officers in Alexandria before his
release on Tuesday.
“We
are of the opinion that he shouldn’t have been tried for his opinions and that
it was an unfair trial,” said the head of ANHRI, Gamal Eid.
“Now
we are also looking for a full investigation from the general prosecutor
because Kareem was beaten twice – once when he was in prison in 2007 and the
second time a week ago as Kareem was held for 11 days beyond the end of his sentence.”
A
Ministry of Interior source confirmed the date of the blogger’s final release
but denied he was beaten.
Mr
Soliman, 26, a former law student at al-Azhar
University, a state-run,
religious institution was arrested in 2006.
He
was accused of posting blogs that insulted Mr Mubarak by calling him a
“dictator” and incited hatred of Islam.
He
had called al-Azhar, “the university of terrorism”, and accused it of
promoting radical ideas and suppressing free thought.
The
university expelled him and pushed prosecutors to put him on trial.
According
to the Free Kareem website set up by supporters, the blogger spent 1,470 days
behind bars. It expressed gratitude to all who backed Mr Soliman through his
ordeal.
“Thanks
for everyone who has protested, rallied, supported, donated, written, shared or
even tweeted anything about Kareem from all over the world!” it read.
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