Egyptian blogger jailed for advocating moderation

The AP reported this disturbing story of naked censorship in Egypt last week:

An Egyptian blogger was convicted Thursday and sentenced to four years in prison for insulting Islam and Egypt's president, sending a chill through fellow Internet writers who fear a government crackdown.

Abdel Kareem Nabil, a 22-year-old former student at Egypt's Al-Azhar University, had been a vocal secularist and sharp critic of conservative Muslims in his blog. He often lashed out at Al-Azhar -- the most prominent religious center in Sunni Islam -- calling it "the university of terrorism" and accusing it of encouraging extremism.

Nabil was actually eligible for 9 years in prison, but his sentence of 4 included 3 for "insulting Islam and the Prophet Muhammad" and 1 for "insulting President Hosni Mubarak." His lawyer says he plans to appeal, but in the meantime Nabil is behind bars for daring to advocate moderation in his online posts.

By way of contrast, here in the U.S., "Titanic" director James Cameron is airing a dubious documentary that claims to have found the ossuary of Christ, and Louis Farrakhan (leader of the Nation of Islam) has just called for the impeachment of our president. I'd like to point out to the freedom-hating Islamofascists that neither of these shysters are on their way to the klink. Free people are generally smart enough to recognize a kook when they encounter one.

The imprisoning of Nabil highlights the intellectual and moral feebleness of Islamofacism, offering yet more proof that it's nothing more than a violent, backward ideology.