A brave young woman may face jail for writing a poem in defense of the rights of jailed Egyptian blogger Abdelkareem Nabil Soliman (Kareem):
Prisoner
by Dalia Ziada
O’ slaves of wretchedness and abject weakness
O’ torturers coming from hell
You’re questioning my prayers,
My fasting, my life, and
My messages to universe!
You wonder and ask
Whether I’m a slave like you
Or I have a creed and religion.
Hey all of you, listen to me,
Or if you want don’t listen:
O’ my interrogators,
I am not a worshiper of what you worship
And you cannot worship what I worship
You have a religion,
And I have some other religion.
You are the worshipers of lies and illusions.
You are the worshipers of coercion,
And disgusting humbleness.
While I am not.
I have a brave heart,
Which cannot be defeated
I am one of the servants of the bestower of truth
And also the servant of the bestower of peace.
All of egypt is my sanctuary.
And the radiance of the truth is my qiblah [direction of prayer].
The sea is my extended home.
Imprison me … Torture me!
I wonâ??t retreat, I won’t panic.
Do not you understand?
I have the honor
To stick to my beliefs
Even if I’ll have
The title of prisoner
I’m steadfast, I won’t surrender
—Dalia Ziada
(translated from the Arabic by the author)
Dalia has been a pillar of strength in the defense of Abdelkareem, despite her strong disagreement with his writings about her religion. She is a modern heroine. It is an honor to know her and an obligation to work for her rights and freedoms.
(Here’s a short account of some of the unofficial work of Cato-connected people on behalf of young Abdelkareem. I hope that we will not have to do anything similar for Dalia. My heart breaks at the thought that some brutal “policeman” would lay even a single finger on her.)
What a nightmare! I truly hope that Miss Ziada keeps her freedom. It’s sad enough that poor Kareem was wronged…
Dear Tom Palmer, I think your blog is great and it’s actually my first time here, but I am afraid your source is not accurate about Dalia Ziad’s issue, I have one of the blogs subjected to getting blocked in Egypt, but nor the judge nor security police ever mentioned anything on getting the bloggers to jail, Dalia Ziada is trying to get international recognition through Karim’s case, according to his and other people’s own words!!
so please check your sources before making false propaganda. we all said much more controversial statments about Islam and Abd-El-Kareem’s case. something Dalia Ziada has never done, she won’t go to prsion not in a million years, unless of course she commits a crime, on the other hand many other who speak more boldly about islam are in alot of danger, and Dalia Ziada is no where near this list.
Here’s the organization where Dlia Ziada works, and here is their report about the case of blocking blogs, I recomend that you get it translated aside from Dalia and see for yourself.
http://www.hrinfo.net/press/2007/pr0510.shtml
Well, I know Dalia and I know her to be a person of integrity. She has been called to the prosecutor’s office for questioning, which should alarm anyone who knows what happened to Kareem. The idea that someone would want to draw the attention of the authorities to themselves is hardly credible. She is a young woman of great courage. I think it’s a shame that anyone would snipe at a person of such integrity and consciousness of the right thing to do.