Free Kareem Amer! One year is enough!

Esra'a Al Shafei

Dear friends, Almost a year has gone by, and Kareem Amer is still in prison. Egypt is getting away with this inexcusable human rights violation. The U.S government, while aware of the situation, is not doing enough and continues to financially assist Egypt despite the increasing crackdown on bloggers and activists. We need your help in raising awareness, all Kareem did was practice his rights to free speech, and if we don't stand up for his freedom and these rights, there will be more victims. We want the world to know what the Egyptian authorities are putting Kareem and many others through all the while portraying itself as "democratic." We need to stand up for freedom, and we need to do it right now. Kareem needs you. Please dedicate a few minutes of your free time to do the suggested things below. There are several things that you can do to help: Kareem has sent us his 6th letter from prison, which is now available in English on www.FreeKareem.org, re-publish this letter on your blogs or via e-mail as Kareem wants this letter to be read by as many people as possible. If you are a journalist, please ask your editor if you can dedicate a column in your paper to publish this letter (and you may feel free to shorten it whenever necessary, as long as the meaning is kept the way it is.) If you can, we would greatly appreciate your help if you can translate this letter. You will be credited with the translation and your work will be listed in the "What Kareem Said" page. Worldwide Rallies are coming up on Friday the 9th of November. Please either show up to your local rally or if there is none organized for your city please prepare a rally in front of the Egyptian Embassy on this date. Let us know if you are willing to do this so we can list you as a coordinator for people to contact. Getting involved in the rallies and taking videos/pictures is one of the best ways you can help us spread the word on Kareem. If you want to help Kareem stay in good spirits, please send him a personal letter to this address: http://www.freekareem.org/2007/06/05/updating-kareems-prison-address/ If you are a Twitter user, the Committee to Protect Bloggers is organizing a Twitter Day for Kareem. Please visit this entry for the relevant information: http://committeetoprotectbloggers.org/2007/10/03/twitter4kareem-on-november-6/ Thank you all for your support. For a direct link to the information concerning our next set of worldwide rallies, please visit this link: http://www.freekareem.org/2007/07/21/next-worldwide-rally-date/ For pictures concerning the last worldwide rallies in April, scroll past the entries here: http://www.freekareem.org/category/worldwide-rallies/ Please write back if you would like to get involved, especially in the worldwide rallies. Regards, Esra'a Al Shafei Free Kareem Coalition, Director www.FreeKareem.org