FreeKareem is a project of Mideast Youth, directed by Esra'a Al-Shafei. Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman Amer is an Egyptian blogger who was imprisoned for anti-Islamic and anti-governmental writings on his blog.[1] He was the first Egyptian to be prosecuted for the content of his writings. Kareem’s sentence was for four years and expired on November 4, 2010. However, immediately upon his release he was immediately re-arrested. He was finally released from prison on November 17, 2010.[2] Kareem was disowned by his family for his comments and his father called for his death.[3]
Esra'a Al-Shafei started FreeKareem.org to raise awareness of the case and campaign for the freedom of thought and the freedom of speech.[4] The campaign used social networking sites including Twitter and Facebook to spread the word about worldwide rallies that would be held to protest the Egyptian governments actions.[5]
Amnesty International[6] and Reporters Without Borders [7] are among the organizations that lobbied for his release. The US State Department included Amer's arrest in its 2006 Country Report on Human Rights Practices for Egypt [8].
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On April 27, 2007, November 9, 2007, February 22, 2008, and November 6, 2008, the FreeKareem campaign organized worldwide rallies at Egyptian Embassies to stand up for human rights and free speech.[9] They were held in Washington DC,[10] London, Stockholm, Berlin, Athens, Rome, Prague, Bucharest, Brussels and other cities.[11]
Many Libertarian groups, such as Bureaucrash and Institute for Free Enterprise (Berlin)[1], played a role in the protests.