*Sign of the Times*

An article appeared on BBC news today about an Egyptian blogger who was sentenced to four years in prison for 'insulting Islam and the president.'

The article reads:

'Abdel Kareem Nabil's trial was the first time that a blogger had been prosecuted in Egypt.
He had used his weblog to criticise the country's top Islamic institution, the al-Azhar university and President Hosni Mubarak, whom he called a dictator.
A human rights group called the verdict "very tough" and a "storng message" to Egypt's thousands of bloggers.
A former student at al-Azhar, Nabil, 22, called the institution "the university of terrorism" and accused it of suppressing free thought.
The university expelled him in 2006 and pressed prosecutors to put him on trial.
During the five-minute court session the judge said Nabil was guilty and would serve three years for insulting Islam and inciting sedition, and one year for insulting Mr. Mubarak.
"This is a strong message to all bloggers who are put under strong surveillance that the punishment will be very strong," Hafiz Abou Saada of the Egyptian Human Rights Organisation told the AP.'

-BBC news, 22 February 2007

This is interesting on so many levels....but I'm sure it won't be brought up the next time President Bush refers to Egypt as a democracy or as a country undergoing a 'democratic transition.'