Imprisoned Egyptian Blogger Appeals Sentence

CAIRO, Egypt, Feb. 27, 2007 — -- An appeal was filed today on behalf of Abdel Karim Suliman, the first Egyptian blogger to be convicted of defaming Islam and the Egyptian president.

He faces four years in prison.

On his blog, Suliman described President Hosni Mubarak as a corrupt dictator.

He also accused conservative Muslims of brutality during clashes between Muslims and Christians in the city of Alexandria in 2005, and sharply criticized Al Azhar University's curriculum as advocating extremism.

Al Azhar University, a prestigious Sunni Muslim learning institute, dismissed the 22-year-old former Islamic law student before turning him over to prosecutors.

Gamal Eid, Suliman's attorney, says he is pessimistic the appeal will be successful.

"The verdict is a direct message to all opponents: Any criticism of the president will only lead to jail," Eid told ABC News.

This warning doesn't seem to scare blogger Mohamed Sharkawy.

Sharkawy was detained last year for three months after his arrest while demonstrating in support of independence for judges.

"I am angry but not afraid. We were able to raise and expose stories on torture and sexual harassment that would otherwise have gone by unnoticed. We, the bloggers of Egypt, have formed our own public press, one without borders. No matter what the regime does to us, we will not give up our freedom of expression," he said.

The blogging community in Egypt is fast expanding; over the last two years, it grew from 300 bloggers to almost 4,000.

"Active opposition is very weak in Egypt. Most of the political parties we have exist only on paper. This is why bloggers came as a new and positive addition to the few active voices. However, bloggers have a responsibility not to abuse the medium. We need to express our views in a decent and nonoffensive language. We need to be sensitive to the culture and the religion," said Rasah Abdulla, assistant professor of mass communication at the American University in Cairo, and the author of two books on the Internet in the Arab world.