Meet Abdul Kareem Suleiman Amer (Kareem on Wikipedia).

Kareem used the web to write about his opinions on secularism and his concerns about what he perceived as religious extremism, political repression and discrimination against women by his law school.

For this “crime” Kareem has been jailed for four years.

Amnesty International have quickly issued a condemnation of the judgment, though Egypt appears disinterested in the opinion of the international community.

Human Rights Watch described the ruling as setting “a chilling precedent in a country where blogs have opened a window for free speech”.

I can only suppose that this will have a negative impact on Egyptian Tourism.

Incidentally, the site freekareem.org is run by people who are religious, and who do not agree with Kareem’s beliefs, but who are committed to upholding his civil liberties and his right to disagree with them.

(via BoingBoing. photo Br0m, remixed under CC license).