Despite the fact that Egypt is scheduled to host a forum in 2009 on the topic of Internet governance, Egypt today put a blogger behind bars for four years after he was convicted of insulting Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s seemingly eternal president, and insulting Islam.
Abdel Karim Suleiman, 22, a former law student at Egypt’s al-Azhar University, a traditional seat of learning, was sentenced during his five-minute court session to one year for insulting President Mubarak and three years for insulting Islam.
Amnesty International decried the sentence as “yet another slap in the face of freedom of expression in Egypt.”
