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Blogger jailed for publishing
insults
Bloggers are learning that they must respect the laws of every
country where their blogs may be read and this newspaper report
notes that a
blogger
has been jailed for insulting the President of Egypt:
"The
Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRinfo) denounced
the decision by an Egyptian appeals court on 12 March 2007 to
uphold a four-year jail sentence against a blogger convicted of
insulting Islam and the Egyptian president. . .
Amer's blogs regularly
criticised the religious and authoritarian excesses of President
Mubarak's government, and Egypt's highest religious
institutions, including the Sunni university of Al-Azhar, where
he studied law before being expelled.
In another case, Ibrahim Issa, Editor-in-Chief of "Al Dustour",
avoided imprisonment after he and journalist Sahar Zaki were
fined 22,500 Egyptian pounds (approx. US$3,952) when the charge
of "insulting the Egyptian President" and "disturbing public
order" was upheld by an Appeals court in Al-Waraq last month."
Egypt is on this list of 13
countries listed as "Internet enemies" by the "Publishers without
Borders" organization. Their 13 "Internet enemies" include
Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Myanmar, China, North Korea, Cuba, Egypt,
Iran, Uzbekistan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan and Vietnam
Remember, blogger's First Amendment rights to free speech do not
apply in cases of libel, fighting words, and cases where a blog is
subjected to the laws of a foreign nation. See the BC notes
here:
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