Activists to protest for release of Egyptian dissident

"The West cannot remain indifferent to brazen violations of human rights," insists director of Cyberdissidents.org.

By HAVIV RETTIG GUR
Published: SEPTEMBER 15, 2009 09:47
blogger 88 (photo credit: )
blogger 88
(photo credit: )
Democracy activists, mostly students, will hold a series of demonstrations at Egyptian embassies and university campuses in the United States, Canada and Israel on Tuesday in support of 25-year-old Egyptian blogger Abdul Kareem Nabil Suleiman, who was jailed in 2007 for criticizing Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and "insulting Islam." Amer, widely known simply as Kareem Amer, has been in the custody of Egyptian security services since 2006. His final appeal to overturn the 2007 conviction and four-year prison sentence will take place Tuesday in an Egyptian court. Protests will take place at Duke University, the University of Southern California, George Washington University and several other campuses. "The West cannot remain indifferent to brazen violations of human rights," said David Keyes, the director of Cyberdissidents.org, which is coordinating the protests. "The United States provides Egypt with two billion dollars a year in aid, yet Mubarak continues to imprison students and reformers who criticize his regime." The Israeli protest will take place in front of the Egyptian Embassy in Tel Aviv at 3 p.m. Tuesday.