No freedom of speech in Egypt

Abdel Kareem Soliman, an Egyptian blogger, has been jailed for four years. His crime? Accusing his university, al-Azhar, of suppressing freedom of thought, and calling Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's regime a "symbol of dictatorship". This was called "insulting Islam" and "inciting sedition" - which I think rather proves his point.

In a free society, criticising an educational institution and the government should not be a crime. But Egypt is not a free society. Rather, it is a vicious dictatorship, whose government engages in torture and which "manages" elections by beating and shooting members of the opposition and imprisoning those they elect. And all the while, the US government (and our one) praises it as a "moderate" Arab regime. If that's "moderate", I'd hate to see a bad one.

If you're interested in the case, there is a Free Kareem blog here.