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I would hope none of us are willing to live like that, yielding to intimidation and bending to censorship. But unfortunately, the free-speech-minded in Arab nations know full well what it’s like to live like that. And some pay a hefty price. Back during the Muhammad cartoons controversy, Egyptian Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit spearheaded the country’s mediation role, urging Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen to not prosecute Jyllands-Posten but issue “an official Danish statement underlining the need for and the obligation of respecting all religions.” When the religious controversy happened in their own nation, though, the Egyptians were more than happy to prosecute, showing little respect for a secularist who voiced disagreement with tenets of the Islamic society. Egyptian blogger and 22-year-old student Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman, who wrote online under the pseudonym “Kareem Amer,” was sentenced to four years in prison last week for “inciting hatred of Islam” and criticizing President Hosni Mubarek. Ironically, this is the same president who three years ago promised to reform the system that punishes journalists for their work. WE’VE learned all too well by now that many parts of the globe won’t tolerate any perceived insult to Islam, however unintentional. Invite cartoonists to draw Muhammad, as Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten did in 2005, or be one of the dozens of other publications that reprinted the caricatures in solidarity with Jyllands-Posten, and watch the death threats pour in and lethal rioting start as some Muslim organizations try to get the government to levy criminal charges. A year later, all Pope Benedict XVI had to do to raise ire was quote a 14th-century Byzantine emperor who decried Muhammad’s “command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.” Ironically, the subsequent outrage included firebombing of churches, calls by the Islamic state body in Turkey to arrest the pope on charges of insulting Islam, calls for the execution of the pontiff and the murder of a nun in Somalia. And even when Comedy Central’s “South Park” tried to innocuously feature Muhammad in a scene mocking “Family Guy,” parent company Viacom demanded the image be censored. Speaking at the Television Critics Association summer press tour last July, Comedy Central president Doug Herzog said, “I think history might show we overreacted, but we’re willing to live like that.” Prosecutor Mohammed Dawoud accused Kareem of being an “apostate” who “has hurt every Muslim across the world,” reportedly telling The Associated Press, “I want him to get the toughest punishment. I am on a jihad here … If we leave the likes of him without punishment, it will be like a fire that consumes everything.” The blaze of which he complains consisted of Kareem’s views against what he saw as unchecked radical Islam. Kareem, who wrote of the desire to become a human-rights lawyer to help women in Arabic societies, decried extremism being taught at his university and harshly criticized Muslim attacks on the Coptic Christian population. The Web site FreeKareem.org was set up by many Muslims who were personally offended by Kareem’s writings but felt they must stand up for free expression. “You may be disgusted at what he said, even angered,” wrote the campaign founders in a recent post. “That’s okay, so are we! But we will defend with all our might his right to express such opinions, because it is his basic human right that none of you have the right to … take away.” Kareem’s imprisonment will not be the last, unless the freedom-loving global community takes a stand and says, “We’re not willing to live like that!” So what action should be taken? First, Egypt is bucking to host a stage of the United Nations-sponsored Internet Governance Forum in 2009. Unless Kareem is freed and press rights guaranteed, the U.N. should thumb its nose at Egypt’s inclusion. Everyone should also send a letter protesting Kareem’s imprisonment to the Egyptian Embassy, embassy@egyptembdc.org, and the White House should lobby directly to Mubarek on Kareem’s behalf. And, last but not least, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights should immediately get involved to free Kareem – perhaps this sketchy U.N. body can finally earn its keep. True democracy in the Arab world starts with these brave bloggers. Turn our backs on Kareem, and we turn our backs on everything for which we’ve been fighting. Bridget Johnson writes for the Daily News. Write to her by e-mail at bridget.johnson@dailynews.com.160Want local news?Sign up for the Localist and stay informed Something went wrong. Please try again.subscribeCongratulations! You’re all set! read more