Egyptian Blogger Arrested!
Egypt blogger detained over religious views: rights groupMon Nov 7,11:06 AM ET
from http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051107/wl_mideast_afp/egyptarrestinternet:
CAIRO (AFP) - An Egyptian student was arrested by security services over articles that he posted on his Internet blog about recent religious violence in the city of Alexandria.
The Association for Human Rights Legal Aid (AHRLA) "today sent a letter to the attorney general demanding a probe into the arrest of Abdel Karim Nabil Suleiman," the group's chairman Taker Khater said Monday.
He said state security forces burst into the 21-year-old's home in Alexandria on October 26 and took him away "because of his recent Internet articles on the incidents" in the Mediterranean city.
Egypt's security services refused to comment on his arrest.
The young blogger lives in Alexandria's Muharram Bek neighbourhood, where three people were killed when security forces clamped down on a protest by Muslims angry at a Christian play they deemed offensive to their faith.
The clashes, which occurred on October 21, were the worst confessional violence Egypt had seen in several years and rekindled a debate on the place of the Christian Coptic minority in Egyptian society.
In his blog, the Suleiman posted vitriolic articles condemning the Muslim reaction to the play and what he described as systematic oppression of the country's Christian community.
AHRLA called on the attorney general to protect the young blogger against torture and stressed that detaining him "contravened Egypt's laws and constitution, as well as international charters."
