Copy to the Attorney General of Egypt Dear Sir, We would like to give our opinion on behalf of Mr. Abd al-Karim Nabil Sulaiman Amir, who is being trialed on the 22nd February 2007 at an Egyptian Court. According to our opinion and the opinion of many Egyptian intellectuals this trial is an injury to theprinciple of free opinion, which is being expressed here via internet, a medium young people fall back upon because the possibilities of free expression is getting lesser and lesser in their society. Of course it does happen here and then that some internet users – in Egypt and elsewhere – go beyond what is permissible and decent when they criticize politics and society, yet this should better be answered by open dialogue, power of judgement and good manners, features the Egyptian people are characteristic of, … not by a trial at court. This would only complicate the matter. We demand on the state of Egypt to stand by freedom of speech instead of strangling the little bit of freedom left on internet websites. The Ibn Rushd Fund for Freedom of Thought therefore appeals to the Egyptian state to let Mr. Abd al-Karim Nabil Sulaiman Amir free – by this being a supporter of freedom of thought, which is the fundament of society’s development and its advancement. Yours sincerely Dr. Nabil Bushnaq Ibn Rushd Fund Berlin 17.02.2007
