Egyptian police detain blogger despite protests

Police arrested a blogger Sunday in Cairo, less than a week after rights watchdog Amnesty International criticized Egypt for detaining the writer of another personal Web log. Rami Siyam was detained in downtown Cairo early Sunday for questioning, a police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. He is at least the fifth blogger Egypt has detained this year. Later he was transferred to the Delta Nile city of Belbeis for further interrogation. "Police want to know if he is involved in criminal activities," the officer said. Siyam has been running his blog since May 2005 and usually he posts material critical to the government such as police torture and operation of political opponents. The officer did not say whether Siyam's detention had any connection with anti-government items Siyam had posted on his blog.