Egyptian blogger badly beaten in prison

After being sentenced to 4-years in jail in February, Abdel Karim Suleiman has been beaten in prison and sent to an isolation cell, Reuters reported today. Suleiman was the first blogger to stand trial in Egypt for Internet writings.

Suleiman, a former law student who was convicted in connection with eight articles he wrote in 2004, was jailed for insulting Islam and President Hosni Mubarak.

According to the article “The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, which represents Suleiman, said in a statement that a prison guard and another prisoner beat him while a prison official looked on. The beating caused one of his teeth to be broken.”

The article adds that: “Later, the group said, Suleiman was sent to a ‘disciplinary cell’ where he was put in handcuffs and leg shackles and beaten again. The group said the beatings resulted from Suleiman ‘uncovering an act of corruption in the prison’ but gave no further details.’”

“An Interior Ministry spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment. The government says it opposes torture and prosecutes abusers if it has evidence of wrongdoing,” Reuters reported.

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