Poet Arrested for Insulting Mubarak

An Egyptian poet Mounir Saied Hanna was arrested on May and was sentenced for three years in prison and a fine of 100,000 pounds for allegedly insulting the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. People close to him deny that he did insult Mubarak. His brother stated that he did not mean to be insulting to Mubarak. His brother said,”I know that later on he started writing poems about social issues like unemployment and the rise of prices, but he didn’t mean to criticize the president. His poems were not officially published and were only read by a handful of friends anyway.”

Egypt received a lot of US aid after the signing of the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. During the Cold war, after the death of Gamal Abdel Nassar, his successor Anwar Sadat, who served as Vice President for Nasser and who was well-known for the Egytian-Israel peace treaty, which got him assassinated by Islamic extremists, defected from the Soviet fold and came to the American fold. While Nasser was militantly anti-western, Sadat had a more moderate policy toward the west. Mubarak served as Vice President under Sadat and succeeded him. Though Egypt is considered to be a US ally, the US also pressued Egypt to implement more democratic reforms. That was especially true under US President George W. Bush who had disputes with Egypt. However, it’s less true with Barack Obama in office. Obama cuddles up with Arab dictators and seeks to radically change America into a Socialist nation. He gave a bow to the Saudi king Abdullah.

China view reported:

The United States and Egypt, two major players in Middle East issues who have drifted apart in recent years, pressed the reset button on their relationship in a Tuesday meeting between the two presidents.

Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, 81, who has ruled Egypt for 28 years, made his first visit in five years to the U.S. capital to meet with his counterpart Barack Obama, after tensions under former U.S. President George W. Bush..

In Egypt, insulting the President Mubarak results in at least 24 hour detention and at most a 3 year detention. The poet appealed the court decision because he didn’t have a lawyer during the investigation.

“The court’s ruling is illegitimate and very harsh. It is clear evidence of the regime’s position toward freedom of speech,” said Hamdi El Assiouty, who is a legal councilor for the Arab network for Human Rights. However, human rights activist managed to get an acquittal for the jailed poet. Like other Arab countries, Egypt is a dictatorship. Mubarak imposed the Emergency law, which helps him to suppress dissident.