Kieran Bennett

Word’s like this saw Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer jailed and tortured:

From There Is No Deity but the Human Being:

We must return to the beginning and define the function of the law in our lives. And before that, we must convince the human being of his individual sanctity, and that nothing surpasses him in importance and standing besides himself. Following that, the law is a follower, protector, and organizer of his life. It is not a tool of suppression with which whoever is behind it aims to create a new deity the human being will prostrate to and sanctify.

Kareem condemned Islam in the strongest terms, to the point that the Free Kareem website carry’s a disclaimer saying they don’t endorse his views on that topic! Born and raised a fundamentalist Muslim, Kareem wrote for a reformist Coptic Christian blog and defended the rights of Coptic Christians to religious expression. But he fell out with Copts United over their refusal to publish his material critical of Coptic Christianity.

As a blogger he promoted secularism and the rights of women, criticized the government and universities as well as both of his countries major religions. And for it, he was jailed and tortured. One year for criticizing the dictator, three for his attacks on Islam.

The Committee to Protect Bloggers (in conjunction with FreeKareem.org) has this month launched Flood the Jail with Mail, a letter writing campaign to remind Kareem that he is not alone, and in doing so to remind Egyptian authorities that someone is watching.

Atheists, humanists, free thinkers, this man is one of our own and he is in jail for his beliefs. I encourage anyone who reads this to join me in writing a letter of support to Kareem.

1. Causes
2. Blogging Tip #1
3. I return…
4. Resources
5. Voltaire: “Islam is pretty damn stupid”

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