What if they arrested a blogger and nobody cared

What if they arrested a blogger and nobody cared

Another Egyptian blogger and journalist has been arrested for saying the wrong things. This time round, it is Abdel Moneim Mahmoud, a Muslim Brotherhood blogger who writes for the Ikhwanweb site. Arabawy has a series of posts going through the background to this.

It isn”t surprising to see this happen – but it is surprising to see the lack of concern among the same people who were pretty loudly expressing their dismay at the arrest and imprisonment of Abdelkareem Soliman.

The big difference between the two? Abdelkareem was heavily anti-Islamic in his writings and Mahmoud blogs for the Muslim Brotherhood. Thats all I can really see.

Ironically, Mahmoud actually got some attention for writing in support of Abdelkareem. Just for some context here, lets remember Abdelkareem is the guy who wrote that


“For as long as Islam exists on this planet all your efforts to end wars and disputes and upheavals will fail because Islam’s dirty finger will be found behind every catastrophic event to humanity.”

Despite saying about the nastiest thing you can possibly say about his religion, Abdelkareem was defended by Mahmoud (who is, remember, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood). Mahmoud said:


“I disagree with Abdul Kareem Amer’s views. However, I do not disagree, at all, that this security practice is unjust towards a youth in the prime of his life. Punishing him, or punishing others having their opinions, will not succeed in changing their ideas.”

So far, I haven”t seen much support for Mahmoud from any of the usual defenders of free speech. Most disappointing is that it hasn”t even been mentioned by the pretty widely publicised Free Kareem site, which was happy to publish Mahmoud”s defense of Abdelkareem when it was useful. Here”s to hoping this situation changes, fast.