Friday, March 23, 2007
Where torture is okay, but criticism isn't...?
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Sometimes, I think we don't appreciate how lucky we are in living in a civilized and secular country. Certain things we take for granted, like freedom of speech, could land us in jail in other countries.
In the U.K., freedom of speech is regarded as a right. Of course, with rights come responsibilities, like not abusing that right by shouting "Fire!" in a crowded cinema, for instance, or inciting violence or hatred.
But otherwise, I am free to express my opinions no matter how critical I am of The Wankers in Charge.
Egyptian blogger, Karim Amer is not so lucky. He's in jail. For four years! Just for criticizing the political and religious authorities in Egypt.
::cough::choke::splutter::wheeze::
This is seen to be a dire warning to any other bloggers - Egyptian bloggers, that is - who have the temerity to criticize their government.
This is possibly because Egyptian bloggers have been putting the boot in of late about human rights abuses in their country. Don't about the rest of you, but I call jailing a blogger for speaking his mind - blowing the whistle, whatever - an abuse of his human rights.
Hm, didn't I read somewhere that Egypt was (is?) involved in those 'extraordinary rendition' cases? You know extraordinary rendition? That euphemism for what others have called "the outsourcing of torture" and "torture by proxy?"
It seems that, while torture is perfectly okay with the Egyptian government, blogging about that torture is not. To the tune of four fucking years in jail!
::cough::choke::splutter::wheeze::
And you can bet your bottom dollar that Karim Amer will not be spending those four years in a prison with all mod. cons. and a T.V. set in every cell...
.
Sometimes, I think we don't appreciate how lucky we are in living in a civilized and secular country. Certain things we take for granted, like freedom of speech, could land us in jail in other countries.
In the U.K., freedom of speech is regarded as a right. Of course, with rights come responsibilities, like not abusing that right by shouting "Fire!" in a crowded cinema, for instance, or inciting violence or hatred.
But otherwise, I am free to express my opinions no matter how critical I am of The Wankers in Charge.
Egyptian blogger, Karim Amer is not so lucky. He's in jail. For four years! Just for criticizing the political and religious authorities in Egypt.
::cough::choke::splutter::wheeze::
This is seen to be a dire warning to any other bloggers - Egyptian bloggers, that is - who have the temerity to criticize their government.
This is possibly because Egyptian bloggers have been putting the boot in of late about human rights abuses in their country. Don't about the rest of you, but I call jailing a blogger for speaking his mind - blowing the whistle, whatever - an abuse of his human rights.
Hm, didn't I read somewhere that Egypt was (is?) involved in those 'extraordinary rendition' cases? You know extraordinary rendition? That euphemism for what others have called "the outsourcing of torture" and "torture by proxy?"
It seems that, while torture is perfectly okay with the Egyptian government, blogging about that torture is not. To the tune of four fucking years in jail!
::cough::choke::splutter::wheeze::
And you can bet your bottom dollar that Karim Amer will not be spending those four years in a prison with all mod. cons. and a T.V. set in every cell...
.
