It's a Crazy, Crazy World

I'm lucky to live in a land where I can say anything I want, however foolish, without getting jailed for four years.

An Egyptian court has sentenced a blogger to four years' prison for insulting Islam and the president.

Abdel Kareem Soliman's trial was the first time that a blogger had been prosecuted in Egypt.

He had used his web log to criticise the country's top Islamic institution, al-Azhar university and President Hosni Mubarak, whom he called a dictator.

A human rights group called the verdict "very tough" and a "strong message" to Egypt's thousands of bloggers.

Soliman, 22, was tried in his native city of Alexandria. He blogs under the name Kareem Amer.

A former student at al-Azhar, he 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.

(Source)

Then again, I'm about thirty kilometres from a country that would have officers knocking at my door if I were to say the wrong thing. I recall a friend in Australia a few years ago who was visited by CIA agents when he made a remark on a message board about what should become of the President. I don't suppose anyone would have a problem with driving 30 km as opposed to flying 4,000.

So I guess what I'm saying is, I'm glad to live in a land where I'm almost free to say anything I would like to.