By: Chris Michael, Posted: Sep 29 08

Regions: Egypt

Issues: Arbitrary arrest, Detention, Freedom of opinion & expression

Tags: action, bloggers, defenders, egypt, HRF, torture, vloggers, wael abbas

This week's Urgent Action comes from Human Rights First's Human Rights Defenders program with a focus on online activists within Egypt, which they note is "continuing its assault on free expression, jailing internet activists and journalists under broad and unjust laws."

Before we launched the Hub last November, we were paying close attention to the amazing organizing and networking that bloggers, journalists and activists were doing in their circulation of video online that documented systemic police torture and brutality within Egypt. The use of video and the subsequent outrage and domestic and international pressure was instrumental in the efforts to raise awareness and calls for justice.

My colleague Sameer Padania has written quite extensively on the issue since 2006, featuring the work of prominent Egyptian bloggers Wael Abbas and Hossam el-Hamalawy, as well as conducting video interviews. Learn more about the situation via these three links and please follow the call to action from our friends at Human Rights First:

• Video interview: Wael Abbas - Egypt's activist bloggers are "the spark in the oven"
• Video interview: Elijah Zarwan - the internet and human rights in Egypt
• Blog from Hub Manager, Sameer Padania: Bloggers open the door to police brutality debate

From Human Rights First: Urge Egyptian Government to Release Online Activists
This week an Egyptian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit arrived in New York City to participate in 63rd session of the United Nations General Assembly. Even as these officials speak on behalf of their country, the Egyptian government continues its assault on free expression.
At this moment, the three bloggers in detention are:

• Mossad Suleiman Hassan (better known by his pen name Mosaad Abu Fajr), novelist and activist from the northern Sinai, detained since December 26, 2007;
• Mohamed Refaat, a 22-year-old student at Cairo University, arrested on July 21, 2008, whose detention continues under Emergency Laws. He faces accusations that include incitement of a strike;
• Abdul Kareem Nabil Suleiman (a.k.a. "Kareem Amer"), a 23-year-old former student at Al-Azhar University currently serving a four-year sentence for views he expressed on his blog.

This year Egyptian authorities have arrested, detained, and prosecuted at least 20 bloggers, journalists, and activists. Using broadly-worded laws that criminalize insulting the president or religion, or harming Egypt's reputation, and relying on Emergency Laws to justify prolonged detention, the government has clamped down on one of the most fundamental rights - the right to free expression.

Please call on the Egyptian authorities to release the bloggers currently detained and stop using vague, overly-broad laws to repress free speech.

• Take Action Now
• Learn More about This Case
• Learn More from Human Rights First