I got 2300 messages from everywhere , i feel so happy everytime i am receiving a letter , i feel that people
didnt forget about me

Our Flood the Jail with Mail campaign was much more of a success than I anticipated, I confess.

Check out this post to find out how to write Kareem.

***

Update: Full text of Kareem’s letter in English below. Arabic version also at FreeKareen.

I am living through some decent days here which I know will not last. I have several activists with me who were detained during the strike on the 6th of April in Egypt. They are people like me. They are educated, and staunch believers in certain values which they are fighting for.

Some of these people are out now, and the others are waiting to be released. Sometimes I wonder if the reason why they’re here in the first place is to make me more sad when they leave me alone in the dark.

This is the first time since I’ve been in prison that I meet people who are intellectually similar to me, but they will soon be released and I will be lonely again.

I wish I can get out of here. Every time I witness people being released from prison to go back to their homes, I wonder when it’s time for me to also leave. I never did anything worthy of this punishment. I’ve been here for so long, and throughout my detainment, I was never convinced that I ever committed a crime. Their punishment is not effective. This prison never changed my mind, and it never will.

I got 2,300 messages from all over the world. I feel ecstatic every time I receive a letter. I feel that people didn’t forget about me. Sometimes, the prisoners here mock me and try to hurt me by telling me that people forgot about my existence, but when I look at all of these letters that I have in my cell… I don’t care about what the prisoners are saying, because I have concrete evidence with me proving them wrong.

I just wish I could get out of here.

Kareem Amer
Borg el Arab prison, Section 22 Cell 1
Alexandria, Egypt

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 with a few campuses in the USA and they are getting ready to hold small events where they collect letters for Kareem, so they can send them all together in a big envelope. We aim to collect at least 30 letters per event. We did the same thing at my college here and we managed to collect around 20 - postcards, letters, pictures. I think Kareem would like it to see things personalized. We are hoping that he will write back confirming to us that he received all these letters.

Ideally people would be sending letters throughout the year, so no amount of days is ever enough. We just specified a date because Curt rightly noted that people would just be saying things like “oh, I’d just send it next month, or the month after that,” and eventually forget. But if they think they have to send it within a specific date, then they will do it much quicker. We hope to be doing this a few times a year to make sure Kareem is being remembered and that people continue making an effort to communicate with him.

And here’s FreeKareem’s update post.

On Monday, April 21, was the official deadline for our letter campaign “Flood the Jail with Mail“. So far, we had about 60 confirmed letters from around the world, but we are assured that it’s not over - some people are getting ready to hold small events where they collect letters for Kareem, so they can send them all together in a big envelope. Our aim is to collect at least 30 letters per event.

People have sent Kareem letters, postcards, pictures, books, etc. We are hoping that he will write back confirming to us that he received all these letters, or at least most of them. But even if the campaign is over now you can continue writing to Kareem. He is always happy to receive letters from his friends and supporters.

We also have in mind to create another campaign of this sort during the end of the summer in August, and in between, we’d have other kinds of campaigns to keep people aware of Kareem. If anyone wants to help out, they should contact editor@freekareem.org and we’d be happy to accept any suggestions or help.

I’d like to sincerely thank all the CPB members who wrote Kareem. I’d also like to second Esra’a’s encouragement to go ahead and write, or write again, whether the campaign is at an end or not.

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 or postcard.

There are several reasons for this departure from the digital.

First, Kareem can receive physical mail. Second, a sufficient amount of such mail will remind Egyptian authorities that this blogger, bloggers in general and prisoners of conscience over all, are not alone. When Kareem was being tortured several months ago, the focus of international media was instrumental in stopping it. Finally, it takes us out of our comfort zones and reminds us that what we do exists in the physical world with real consequences.

Alexandria
Borg Al-Arab Prison
Room 1 Section 22
Prisoner Abdul Kareem Nabil Suleiman
The Arab Republic of Egypt
Kareem’s address in Arabic - mandatory to include on envelope

Upon sending a letter or card to Kareem, please let either the CPB or FreeKareem know you’ve done so, by commenting on one of the blogs, emailing us, or tagging a post about it with “floodthejail.”

Here’s all the information you’ll need to write Kareem from our site and here is FreeKareem’s write-up. (If you don’t write Arabic, don’t forget to print out and affix Kareem’s address in Arabic to anything you send him.)

Again, if you’re not very familiar with Kareem’s situation, you’ll want to read FreeKareem’s FAQ.

We’d like to ask you to do one more thing. When you send something to Kareem, drop a comment on one of the posts on CPB or on FreeKareem. Alternatively, post it on the CPB or FreeKareem Facebook walls or send either us or FreeKareem an email. That way, if there is a discrepancy between the number of letters sent and the number delivered, we’ll be able to document it. (We don’t anticipate this will happen, but better safe than sorry.)

Thanks to everyone for participating. Oh, and don’t forget to post a “Write to Kareem” badge on your site.

***

Also: If you write about this campaign would you tag it “floodthejail“? Thanks.

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 April 7 through April 21, both organizations are encouraging their memberships to go analogue and write Kareem a letter or postcard.

There are several reasons for this departure from the digital.

First, Kareem can receive physical mail. Second, a sufficient amount of such mail will remind Egyptian authorities that this blogger, bloggers in general and prisoners of conscience over all, are not alone. When Kareem was being tortured several months ago, the focus of international media was instrumental in stopping it. Finally, it takes us out of our comfort zones and reminds us that what we do exists in the physical world with real consequences.

If you would like to write Kareem now, by all means do so, but we would also like to ask that, whatever you do, you write at least one letter to Kareem during the period from April 7 to April 21. Here is the address in English, followed by a link to the address in Arabic. (It goes without saying that the Arabic must be present on the letter to assure its delivery.)

Alexandria
Borg Al-Arab Prison
Room 1 Section 22
Prisoner Abdul Kareem Nabil Suleiman
The Arab Republic of Egypt
Kareem’s address in Arabic - mandatory to include on envelope

Read Alexandra Sandel’s article in Menassat. (She’s wrong about the dates - it’s two weeks, not one.)

Read Marshall Kirkpatrick’s article in ReadWriteWeb.

Read the Society of Professional Journalists’ post on their Press Notes blog.

Read DigiActive’s write-up.

Kareem, a 23-year old Egyptian former university student was sentenced a year ago to four years in prison for “offending Islam” and President Mubarak. He has been beaten and tortured in prison. FreeKareem is collecting donations to keep him in decent food and clothing.

He’s being tortured in prison.

Cairo, November 12, 2007

The Arabic Network for Human Rights information and Hisham Mubarak Centre for Law sent a communiqué to the Egyptian Prosecutor-General, demanding to investigate into the issue of torturing Karim Amer in his prison. Karim who is an Egyptian blogger sentenced to prison for 4 years for ‘vilifying religions’ and defaming the president was tortured [and this abuse] was ordered and supervised by an investigation officer in Borg Alarab prison. Karim was also ordered into a solitary cell where he was assaulted again and had one of his teeth broken; this assault’s date came to mark one year since Karim was sent to jail.

Karim reported his being tortured in prison to his lawyers in the Arabic Network and Hisham Mubarak Center, the torture came at the hand of another prisoner and a prison guard, ordered by Midhat Samir one of the prison’s investigations officers. This came to pass after Karim has uncovered some corruption act in the prison. Karim was punished and tortured severely which resulted in several injuries in addition to a broken tooth. He was deprived from officially reporting the incident against the accused officer as well as denying him the right to document these injuries in a medical report. The Arabic Network for Human Rights information and Hisham Mubarak Centre for Law mentioned in their communiqué to the Prosecutor-General that the assault on Karim is manifested in the following:

* Being beaten inside ward Number 22 where he is imprisoned at the time of the assault, the battery was launched by another prisoner and a prison guard, in the presence of Officer Midhat Samir and under his supervision. Samir also gave the green light for the assault which resulted in a broken tooth “upper right canine tooth” along with a number of bruises and abrasions on various parts of the body.
* Transferring Karim to a disciplinary cell where he was handcuffed and had his feet strapped into shackles; he was beaten up again which caused him more injuries.
* Another inmate prisoner was brought over where they stripped him out of clothes and beat him severely in front of prisoner Kareem Soliman as they also threatened to inflict upon him the same punishment, if he didn’t mind his own business.

Both of the legal firms the Arabic Network and Hisham Mubarak Centre for Law called for an immediate investigation into Karim Amer’s complaint as according to articles 126,127 and 129 of the criminal code, it fits into the specifications of a torture crime in addition to that, those allegations had they been true, they would represent an infringement to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and also to the UN anti-torture treaty and other treaties on maltreatment, harsh punishment, non- humanitarian or degradeful treatment which Egypt signed on and ratiefied.

It is to mention that Karim since he was imprisoned is subjected to a systemic discriminatory practice and maltreatment in Borg Alarb prison on the hands of the prison’s officers. He mentioned to his lawyer that the maltreatment was always coupled with this phrase “This is until you do change your mind”!! This represents a threat to his life and compounds the difficulty of the already harsh sentence. The two legal firms are calling for transferring him into another prison where he might receive a better humanitarian treatment and where his rights as a prisoner might be respected.

The Arabic Network for Human Rights information
Hisham Mubarak Centre for Law

Kareem, whose full name is Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman, is an Egyptian blogger who was sentenced to four years in prison for airing his critical views on Islam and Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Imprisoning a college student for four years for shooting his mouth off is disgusting. Let Egypt and the world know that out of sight in this day and age is not out of mind.

Kareem, whose full name is Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman, is an Egyptian blogger who was sentenced to four years in prison for airing his critical views on Islam and Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Imprisoning a college student for four years for shooting his mouth off is disgusting.

There are protests for Kareem going on around the world and you can tune in to FreeKareem for that. We’re also encouraging you to use your Twitter account (or any other microblogging account) to make sure the world, and the Egyptian government, knows that you can’t slam the door on someone and rely on that to put an end to it.

Don’t forget Kareem.

Twitter4Kareem.