A blogger from Egypt was sentenced to three years at Tora prison for criticizing the military. The blogger, Maikel Nabil, had assailed the Egyptian armed forces for what he called its continuation of the corruption and anti-democratic practices of Mr. Mubarak, Egypt’s president who was ousted during an uprising two months ago. According to Nabil’s lawyer, Adel Ramadan, “this ruling is a warning to all journalists, bloggers and human rights activists in Egypt that the punishment for criticizing the army is a sentence in a military prison.” The charges against Nabil included insulting the military establishment and spreading false information about the armed forces and he was sentenced and banned from communicating with his family. Human Rights Watch had been calling for Nabil’s release for days. Mona Seif, a rights advocate, said that Nabil may have been singled out as an easy target, partly because of previous run-ins with the military and partly because of his pro-Israel views. Nabil being sentenced to time in prison is a violation of freedom of expression. By him being arrested it shows that there isn’t much of a progression from the abuses of the Mubarak era. There are a lot of people who have written or said similar things as Nabil and could have been charged with. It should be his right as a human to write his criticisms and opinions on his government and military without being punished or persecuted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/world/middleeast/12egypt.html?_r=1
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