Anti-sectarian bloggers and activists detained

Several bloggers were detained at the Naga Hammadi train station when they arrived on Saturday following the killing of six deacons outside of a church on Orthodox Christmas, according Pakinam Amer of Al-Masry Al-Youm. One blogger said she slept on a cold floor in jail and was left without food or drink for ten hours. They were released after a day. When they returned to Cairo, they gathered at the Hisham Mubarak Law Center to discuss what happened.
“We weren’t going to do anything political. We were just going to pay our respects,” said Mostafa el-Naggar, who helped organize the trip. Then he laughed and added, “We had leftists and Nasserists and Islamists and Christians. It was all of Egypt in that jail cell.” Ashraf Khalil reports that the state press has largely ignored the sectarian element of the story, focusing on revenge killings in Upper Egypt.

Human rights activist in jail; report accuses US of helping oppress human rights in the Arab world

Amnesty International is calling for the release of Egyptian novelist and human rights activist Musaad Abu Fagr, who has been in detention since February 15, 2008. His wife Shaimaa has a blog about the ordeal here.

Also see this great story by Saif Nasrawi about US-backed Arab governments against human rights. The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) released its second annual report on Tuesday about this topic.

The author and publisher of the Metro graphic novel has each been fined £E 5,ooo and issues of the novel have been confiscated. The Misdemeanor Court of Qasr El Nil ruled the novel is immoral to the public.

Three human rights organizations published the press release condemning the ruling:
Arabic Network for Human Rights Information
Association of Freedom of Thought and Expression
Hisham Mubarek Law Center

The release did not cite which parts of the novel were deemed immoral, but regardless, the ruling is certainly against freedom of expression.

Blogger denied university entrance

Blogger Amr Salama was denied admission to Sinai University and was interrogated about his political writings when he applied to the Canadian University in Cairo, according to statements he gave to Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, or ANHRI. His blog "Lesa 3aish" touches politically sensitive issues such as Egypt's prevention of humanitarian aid to Palestine and treatment of Bedouins. ANHRI said that Egyptian security had previously forced the closing of his blog.

BBC: UN stifles Internet debate in Egypt

According to the BBC and a video on youtube the UN forced the removal of a poster promoting Internet freedom at a conference in Sharm El Sheikh on Internet governance.

Medill's ongoing affair with prosecutors

The Chicago Tribute reports that my alma mater, the Medill School of Journalism, is under investigation for the role students played in finding witnesses to exonerate a death row inmate: http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/11/hearing-today-on-prosecutors-bid-to-get-journalism-students-grades.html

Two journalists jailed

A journalist and editor from the daily al-Shorouq have been sentenced in absentia to one year in jail for defamation, according to Al-Masry Al-Youm.

The article appeared today as follows:
By Muhammad Abdel Khaleq Mussahil and Shaimaa el-Qarnashawi 28/ 10/ 2009

A Cairo court sentenced prominent journalist Salama Ahmed Salama, chief editor of independent daily Al-Shorouq, along with another reporter from the same newspaper, to one year each in prison on Tuesday. Both men were tried in absentia. The lawsuit was initially filed by Ali el-Naggar, an architect working for Sabbour Consultants, who accused Salama of defamation for claiming in a 30 March article that he had been bribed by businessman Ahmed Omar for a lucrative construction contract. Press Syndicate President Makram Ahmed offered to mediate between the two men in an effort to amicably resolve the difference. Ahmed, however, noted that responsibility generally lies with the reporter in such cases and not with a newspaper's chief editor. Translated from the Arabic Edition.