2007年VOA标准英语-Egyptian Court: Blogger Guilty of Insulting Isl

By Cache Seel
Cairo
22 February 2007

An Egyptian court has sentenced a dissident blogger to four years in prison for insulting Islam and the Egyptian president.  It is the first time anyone has been convicted of those crimes in Egypt in connection to writings on the Internet.  Human rights groups say the conviction is a sign that Egypt is expanding its crackdown on freedom of expression into the Web.  Reporter Cache Seel has details from Cairo.

Abdel Karim Suleiman (in white jacket) is escorted by police from a police van to a court in Alexandria (22 Feb 2007)

A court in Alexandria convicted blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman of "incitement¹ to hate Islam and defaming the President of the Republic," for remarks he made on his Internet site.

Suleiman, a 22-year-old former law student at Al-Azhar University and an aspiring² human rights lawyer, was sentenced to four years in prison.

Blog is short for web log.  It is a personal web site used for anything from an online diary to a platform for political and social criticism. 

Suleiman has not denied writing the blog, which sharply criticized both Al-Azhar University, the highest seat of learning for Sunni Muslims, and President Mubarak, but said he was merely presenting his personal views. 

Of the charges brought against him, defaming the president has drawn³ the most criticism from other bloggers and human rights groups.

"Basically the court is saying, is setting the precedent⁴ that it is not allowed, it is forbidden in this country to criticize the regime or the head of the regime," said Fadi al-Qadi, a spokesman for Human Rights Watch.

Several of Egypt's opposition⁵ bloggers have been detained by authorities during the past year, but Suleiman is the first to stand trial for the content of his site.

Alaa Seif, who has been running a blog since early 2004, and has himself been imprisoned⁶ for political activism, has followed the trial closely and was in the courtroom when the verdict was read.

"He got four years, three for defaming Islam and one year for insulting the president, and that is actually more disturbing.  Finding him guilty of this particular offense⁷ would have a chilling effect or could have a chilling effect on the blogosphere," he said.

Suleiman's lawyers described the trial as a test of freedom of expression in Egypt and said they plan to appeal the guilty verdict. Freedom of expression is to be protected under the Egyptian constitution.

Blogging has become very popular in Egypt during the past few years with an estimated 6,000 active bloggers, some of whom run multiple sites.

The relative anonymity⁸ of these sites has created a forum⁹ for criticism of the government and they have recently come under attack by authorities for exposing cases of alleged¹⁰ police brutality¹¹.

1 incitement   

激励； 刺激； 煽动； 激励物

参考例句：

• incitement to racial hatred 种族仇恨的挑起
• Interest is an incitement to study. 兴趣刺激学习。

2 aspiring   

adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求

参考例句：

• Aspiring musicians need hours of practice every day. 想当音乐家就要每天练许多小时。
• He came from an aspiring working-class background. 他出身于有抱负的工人阶级家庭。 来自辞典例句

3 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

4 precedent   

n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的

参考例句：

• Is there a precedent for what you want me to do?你要我做的事有前例可援吗？
• This is a wonderful achievement without precedent in Chinese history.这是中国历史上亘古未有的奇绩。

5 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

6 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

7 offense   

n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪

参考例句：

• I hope you will not take any offense at my words. 对我讲的话请别见怪。
• His words gave great offense to everybody present.他的发言冲犯了在场的所有人。

8 anonymity   

n.the condition of being anonymous

参考例句：

• Names of people in the book were changed to preserve anonymity. 为了姓名保密，书中的人用的都是化名。
• Our company promises to preserve the anonymity of all its clients. 我们公司承诺不公开客户的姓名。

9 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

10 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

11 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军