[1]
The Caribbean blogosphere tends to focus on internal matters, but the plight of Egyptian blogger Abdel Kareem Suleiman [2] struck a chord nevertheless with a few bloggers, including Cuban-American journalist Marc Masferrer, who posts frequently on human rights issues relating to Cuba. On February 19, Masferrer encouraged readers to sign a petition and visit the [3]Free Kareem website [4], saying:
Free speech repressed somewhere, is free speech repressed everywhere. Even if our words never get us this kind of trouble, it is vital that we all remain vigilant, for freedom's sake.
Masferrer called the annoucement of Kareem's conviction on February 22 “bad news for Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman, for Egypt and the for the cause of free expression. [5]”
On the same day, WeblogBahamas wrote a brief post reporting the news, adding, “it's a tragedy to say the least [6].”
And in Bermuda, Christian S. Dunleavy linked to the BBC report [7] and, three-quarters seriously, drew parallels between the Egypt government's actions and a recent threat by a Bermudian government official — “the PLP/BIU's blog police [8]” — to report an expat blogger to the country's Minister of Immigration.