Committee to Protect Bloggers

Tarek Baiassi, whom we’ve written about before, has finally been sentenced, by a Syrian “court” to three years in prison. According to the RSF, the legal-like glass for Tarek’s sentence included “publishing false news” and “weakening national sentiment,” whatever that is. The real reason for the sentence was his having posted an article on the […]

Saudi blogger Fouad Al Farhan has been released from prison and is resting at home with his family, according to a message from the Free Fouad group.
Fouad, called the father of Saudi blogging, was arrested on December 11 in Jeddah and held in solitary confinement with no charges and only one family visit.
Confirmed by Saudi […]

According to the Bangkok Post, Vietnamese authorities have arrested blogger Nguyen Van Hai.
The newspaper Vietnam Law reported that Ho Chi Minh City police Tuesday arrested Nguyen Van Hai, who blogs under the name Dieu Cay, on charges of tax evasion. The paper said police had searched Hai’s house Monday and found evidence that he […]

Here’s a report on our two week Flood the Jail with Mail campaign for Kareem, the imprisoned Egyptian blogger. The report is via mail from Esra’a, from FreeKareem.
I think even if we had 1 letter, it would be a success for us. We had around 60 confirmed letters from around the world, and we spoke […]

Update:
RSF now reports that Esraa Abdel Fattah Ahmed has also been released.
***
From RSF:
Mahamed El Sharkawi, a blogger who was arrested on 5 April while distributing leaflets urging Cairo residents to go on strike in support of the 6 April protest against food price hikes, was released yesterday from a prison in the Cairo district of […]

Jamyang Kyi, by RFA
According to Radio Free Europe, Jamyang Kyi, Tibetan writer, performer and blogger, has been arrested by the Chinese.
Plainclothes state security officers escorted Jamyang Kyi, who has travelled widely and performed and lectured in the United States, from her office at state-owned Qinghai TV on April 1, an authoritative source told RFA’s […]

In conjunction with FreeKareem.org, the Committee to Protect Bloggers is launching a mail campaign in support of imprisoned Egyptian blogger, Kareem Amer. (If you’re not familiar with the case of this unjustly-imprisoned blogger, please read FreeKareem’s FAQ.)
From today through April 21, both organizations are encouraging their memberships to go analogue and write Kareem a letter […]

Listen to The World’s story on Kareem and our Flood the Jail with Mail campaign.

Curt (that’s me), the director of the Committee, and Esra’a, the director of FreeKareem and MidEast Youth, will be interviewed in a story on our Flood the Jail with Mail campaign tomorrow. Flood the Jail is a campaign to encourage people to write Kareem Amer (real name: Abdelkarim Nabil Soliman), the imprisoned Egyptian blogger. […]

VOA reports that Chinese dissident and blogger Hu Jia has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison. The verdict came “in record time.”

Speaking outside the courthouse Thursday, Hu Jia’s lawyer Li Fangping said his client was convicted of charges of inciting subversion. He said the court’s evidence against Hu Jia included […]