In recent months there has been a crackdown on civil society in Egypt. This has affected NGOs and the press, and bloggers. Last March the sentence of a blogger to four years in prison for "insulting" Islam and the Mubarak was confirmed. Recently, bloggers, activists and journalists protesting against a referendum which gave the government wide police powers and severely limited freedom of expression iwere harassed and arrested. The Muslim Brotherhood, which was not permitted to participate in the recent elections, has been a particular target of state persecution, with hundreds of its members arrested in the past year.
The following is an unedited message from an Egyptian blogger about the detention of another blogger. See below for the addresses of Egyptian officials you can write to and express your protest in this case in particular, or the assault on civil society in general.
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State Security has raided the house of 26-year-old Muslim Brotherhood blogger Mohamed Mosa'ad Yaqout, early Sunday, in Balteem. Ikhwan Web has the details…
Egyptian security forces raided on Sunday at dawn, June, 10, 2007, the house of the writer and blogger, Mohamed Mossad Yaqout. The security forces raided the blogger's house in Baltym, Kafr Al-Sheikh, at 2.00AM and disheveled the house furniture, seized the computer and a number of papers and books and they are still hunting Yaqout.
Yaqout said in a phone call with Ikhwanweb that"The security forces want to arrest me because I support Ghobashi Al-Atawi and Ashraf Al Sayyed, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate in the Shura Council midterm elections for the constituency of Baltym. They want to detain me also because of my anti-regime writings.
Yaqout, 26 years, confirmed that the State Security Police has no arrest warrant and it wants to detain him illegally. Yaqout, a researcher and web editor, is country chased by the security forces on groundless accusations.
http://arabist.net/arabawy/2007/06/11/state-security-raids-bloggers-house/
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# President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, His Excellency Mohammad Hosni Mubarak, Abedine Palace, Cairo, Egypt, E-mail: webmaster@presidency.gov.eg, Fax: +202 390 1998
# Prime Minister Mr. Ahmed Mahmoud Mohamed Nazif, Magles El Shaab Street, Kasr El Aini Street, Cairo, Egypt. Fax: + 202 735 6449 / 7958016. Email: primemin@idsc.gov.eg
# Minister of Justice, Mr. Mamdoh Mohie E-din Marie, Ministry of Justice, Magles El Saeb Street, Wezaret Al Adl, Cairo, Egypt, E-mail: mojeb@idsc.gov.eg, Fax: +202 795 8103
# Public Prosecutor, Counsellor Maher ’Abd al-Wahid, Dar al-Qadha al-’Ali, Ramses Street, Cairo, Egypt, Fax: +202 577 4716
# National Council For Human Rights, Fax: + 202 5747497 / 5747670
# Ambassadeur Sameh Shoukry, 49 avenue Blanc, 1202 Genève, Switzerland, Email: mission.egypt@ties.itu.int, Fax: +41 22 738 44 15