Kingsley Kobo, AfricaNews reporter in Abidjan, Ivory Coast
An Egyptian blogger has been sentenced to four years imprisonment for publishing opinions aimed at disturbing public order, insulting the head of state and defaming Islam. Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman, 24, was arrested in 2006. He will spend a year in jail as he has already spent three years in detention.
He was also expelled from al-Azhar University, Egypt's most prestigious seat of Islamic learning, where he was studying, reported Reuters.
The prosecutor, during trial, cited one of Suleiman’s articles calling “Islam a brutal religion”, which the blogger wrote in 2005 after Muslim worshippers attacked a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria.
French rights group Reporters Without Borders added Egypt to its list of the worst suppressors of freedom of expression on the Internet when Suleiman and several other bloggers were arrested in 2006.
An Egyptian blogger has been sentenced to four years imprisonment for publishing opinions aimed at disturbing public order, insulting the head of state and defaming Islam. Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman, 24, was arrested in 2006. He will spend a year in jail as he has already spent three years in detention.
AFCON: 46 hurt in Zambia victory celebrations09/02
African Peer Review Mechanism making progress08/02
Combating HIV infections among African women08/02
Legume cultivation booms in Western Kenya07/02
Malawi vendors chase out Chinese07/02
Zim: Informal sector urged to join HIV battle05/02
Elections: Wole Soyinka warns Mugabe, Wade03/02
AU elections rescheduled for June in Malawi01/02
