A right we take for granted...
Little did they know just how precarious an otherwise inviolate rule of law would become...
But they knew full well the consequences that would result had they neglected to pen that mightiest of rights of the U.S. citizenry. Kender's explains:
There are people in this world that don't have that freedom, unfortunately, and one of them has sent me an email, asking that I help get the word out that freedom of speech (what little of it that exists there) is under attack in Egypt.Read the whole thing.
As you may have heard by now, Egyptian Blogger Alaa Abdel Fatah has been arrested alongside 10 others while demonstrating in support of the independence of the Judiciary in Egypt and the release of previous demonstrators who were detained 2 weeks earlier. The Police entrapped them, cordoning off their peaceful protest and then proceeded to handpick the demonstrators that they wanted to detain, beat them, and then arrested them.
Alaa and those arrested with him are now arrested for 15 days "pending investigation", which could be renewed indefinitely if the state so wishes. He and the men were sent to the infamous Torah Prison and the girls to the Qanatir prison for the duration. This makes them hardly safe, because stuff that goes on in Egyptian prisons on the hands of the jailors: beatings, sexual assaults, torture of all kinds.
Currently there are about 48 detained, 6 of them are bloggers, and 3 of them are women. The best known is Alaa, which makes him the posterboy of this campaign - but getting them out is equally as important. Egypt has fewer than 830 bloggers all in all, 60 of whom are political and less than 30 are politically active. Now 6 of those are in jail - 20% of all politically active Egyptian bloggers - and amongst them one of Egypt's most highly profiled one.
A sobering account that could happen here, should we continue to take this precious right for granted.
(Filed under First Amendment assaults)
|