Quote :

"Blogger gets 4 years for insulting Islam By NADIA ABOU EL-MAGD ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER ALEXANDRIA, Egypt -- An Egyptian blogger was convicted Thursday and sentenced to four years in prison for insulting Islam, the Prophet Muhammad and Egypt's president, sending a chill through fellow Internet writers who fear a government crackdown. Abdel Kareem Nabil, a 22-year-old former student at Egypt's Al-Azhar University, an Islamic institution, was a vocal secularist and sharp critic of conservative Muslims in his blog. He also lashed out often at Al-Azhar - the most prominent religious center in Sunni Islam - calling it "the university of terrorism" and accusing it of encouraging extremism. His conviction brought a flood of condemnations from Amnesty International and other international and Egyptian rights group and stunned fellow bloggers. "I am shocked," said Wael Abbas, a blogger who writes frequently about police abuses and other human rights violations in Egypt. "This is a terrible message to anyone who intends to express his opinion and to bloggers in particular." Judge Ayman al-Akazi issued the verdict in a brief, five-minute session in a court in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria. He sentenced Nabil to three years in prison for insulting Islam and the prophet and inciting sectarian strife and another year for insulting President Hosni Mubarak. Nabil, wearing a gray T-shirt and sitting in the defendants pen, gave no reaction and his face remained still as the verdict was read. He made no comment to reporters as he was immediate led outside to a prison truck. Seconds after he was loaded into the truck and the door closed, an Associated Press reporter heard the sound of a slap from inside the vehicle and a shriek of pain from Nabil."

Mohammed was a pig-fucker. and I, for one, welcome our new pig-fucking overlords.

2/22/2007 4:00:08 PM

forgot link: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1700AP_Egypt_Blogger.html

2/22/2007 4:01:07 PM

Quote :

"a vocal secularist and sharp critic of conservative Muslims in his blog."

Sounds like they just made his point for him.

But damn - one year of that just for insulting the president?

2/22/2007 4:03:09 PM

wow

2/22/2007 4:11:00 PM

Do you guys think this would have been treated differently by the Egyptian authorities/courts if the religion he insulted was any religion other than Islam?

I'm not trying to say that people get in more trouble for insulting Islam than they would for doing the same to Christianity, Buddhism etc (even though they do) but any chance in hell that Egypt would be consistent in their procedures had it been any other religion?

2/22/2007 5:10:57 PM

Aha, hell no.

If he had insulted any other religion, he wouldn't be in trouble. However, he still would have gone to jail for insulting the fucking dictator of Egypt.

BUT:

If he had insulted any personality recognized as a prophet sent by God in Islam, such as Jesus, Moses, etc, he still would have been punished for that, but definitely not nearly as severely.

A Bahraini blogger was also sent to jail just a few months back. Check out:

http://saudijeans.blogspot.com/2007/02/responsibility-and-consequences.html

2/22/2007 5:15:45 PM

Quote :

"I'm not trying to say that people get in more trouble for insulting Islam than they would for doing the same to Christianity, Buddhism etc (even though they do) but any chance in hell that Egypt would be consistent in their procedures had it been any other religion?"

this doesnt matter because they can do whatever the hell they want as a sovereign nation

2/22/2007 5:15:46 PM

I'm reluctant to say that this is typical of Islam as a whole, but this is the kind of shit that gives Islam a bad name. This mentality of "kill or imprison anyone who disagrees with you or insults your beliefs" is a fucking plague, and a cure desperately needs to be found.

Of course, the same thing can be said for lots of other religions/cults in the world.

2/22/2007 5:15:50 PM

^^and i can feel free to question their hypocrisy and favoritism

2/22/2007 5:18:42 PM

Article on Saudi bloggers:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/11/AR2006111100886.html

Very interesting. Gives you an idea of the tight rope act that bloggers have to do in Arab/Muslim countries.

2/22/2007 5:22:50 PM

at least we know about this case. no one knows what is happening in china, north korea etc

2/22/2007 7:26:28 PM

^ Iran's version of justice scares the hell out of me.

(Had to mention it, not trying to turn this into an axis of evil thing)

[Edited on February 22, 2007 at 7:28 PM. Reason : .]

2/22/2007 7:28:02 PM

yeah. iran is a hell of a lot worse than egypt.

2/22/2007 9:29:56 PM

Quote :

"and i can feel free to question their hypocrisy and favoritism"

no you are just being ethnocentric

2/22/2007 9:41:15 PM

the Saudi blogger article was actually pretty interesting

2/23/2007 10:06:07 AM

^^i'm pretty sure EGYPT is beig ethnocentric

quit trolling

2/23/2007 10:12:06 AM

I actually agree with Twista here.

2/23/2007 2:40:16 PM

fuck you

2/23/2007 2:40:34 PM

Muhammad sucked big balls.

Dude was a politician/general who killed thousands of people and impressed his religion on people.

Screw cultural relativism and historical context.

2/23/2007 2:44:33 PM

And, oh yeah, I agree with Twista here, too.

2/23/2007 2:46:41 PM

fuck your non-liberal democracy having society

fucking backwards barbarians

2/23/2007 2:47:58 PM

careful, dont make any politically incorrect comments

its worse to hurt someones feelings than it is to blow yourself up in a crowded marketplace

2/23/2007 2:51:07 PM

for real

2/23/2007 2:52:30 PM

you dont have to like it

but they can do whatever the hell they want to do

if the citizens want to fuck people that talk shit about islam, that is their prerogative

if people want free speech, they will fight for it, it appears that the egyptians are happy with how things are going over there so it really isnt a problem

[Edited on February 23, 2007 at 6:54 PM. Reason : .]

2/23/2007 6:47:01 PM

Quote :

"i'm pretty sure EGYPT is beig ethnocentric"

how is judging something done in your country by the standards in your country ethnocentric?

2/23/2007 6:48:38 PM

well i was going by the definition of ethnocentric that means

Quote :

"1. Sociology. the belief in the inherent superiority of one's own ethnic group or culture. "

in which case this would essentially be Egypt thinking that their culture, of which one of the main religions is Islam, would be superior to the views of the blogger

if you were going by the definition of

Quote :

"2. a tendency to view alien groups or cultures from the perspective of one's own. "

then ok, i see what you're saying because i did view them from my own "freedom" type perspective

[Edited on February 23, 2007 at 6:54 PM. Reason : .]

2/23/2007 6:53:22 PM

well inherent in that "freedom" view that you took, you assumed, whether you thought about it or not, that your culture is superior

so really both are valid

2/23/2007 6:58:11 PM

ok touche

however to be fair, i do think our culture (american) is superior IN THE SENSE of allowing free speech

2/23/2007 7:00:40 PM

and i would agree with you

but i have to let people do what they think is best in their own culture

2/23/2007 8:03:29 PM

of course and nobody is trying to prevent them for doing that but we can certainly talk about it

but we might not be able to talk about it in egypt!

2/23/2007 8:04:54 PM

a dictatorship is a dictatorship. i say fuck them all, no matter what "cultural values" are involved.

2/23/2007 8:10:49 PM

exactly why people shouldnt complain so much about our culture

what a bankrupt society

2/26/2007 8:28:00 PM

man, you have 9999 posts.

2/26/2007 10:28:21 PM

Quote :

"its worse to hurt someones feelings than it is to blow yourself up in a crowded marketplace"

2/27/2007 12:50:58 PM

hey now, leave my fucking country alone. I have no problems with shit like this. Go play war in Iraq.

Quote :

"he still would have gone to jail for insulting the fucking dictator president of Egypt."

he should be hanged for that...

[Edited on February 27, 2007 at 1:09 PM. Reason : fda]

2/27/2007 1:06:58 PM

^ Yes, and we should start hanging people who insult Bush.

2/27/2007 1:43:36 PM

^but then The Soap Box would be damn near empty

2/27/2007 1:48:16 PM

^ So what's the downside?

2/27/2007 2:03:40 PM

^ mindless zombies

2/27/2007 2:43:16 PM

http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/757.htm


That's all well and good Queen, but is your country actually gonna do shit about it other than just talk?

2/28/2007 11:07:31 AM

yes, they will invade Iraq.

2/28/2007 11:08:43 AM

No matter how silly the idea of having a queen might be to us, as Americans we must be gracious
and considerate hosts.

2/28/2007 11:14:21 AM