A 22 year-old university student, Kareem Amer, was imprisoned for over a month in Alexandria, Egypt, for postings on his blog: those allegedly were “defaming the president of Egypt” and “highlighting inappropriate aspects that harm the reputation of Egypt.”

Similar legal or street prosecutions threaten reporters and citizen journalists throughout other Middle Eastern countries.

“The advent of blogs in the past few years, however, has altered the playing field,” said the International Herald Tribune (IHT).

Some regimes may have conserved their control over printed press (Algeria) but it is much harder for them to control the online and citizen press, which is accessible to all as readers and as contributors.

Blogs didn’t put an end to censorship though, as the IHT reported occurrences of violent attacks aimed against a web publisher in Tunisia, or the murder of an online journalist in Libya.

Amer’s arrest and imprisonment, after he refused in court to retract his blogposts and was questioned on his religious beliefs, has led to a widespread reaction. 1700 letters demanding his release have been sent to the Egyptian government, and the US State Department has requested Amer’s release.

Although press freedom is still far from being respected in many countries, perhaps online journalism and citizen blogs can give a voice and impact to individual contesters of authoritarian regimes.   

"A person using his brain and expressing his ideas freely is more dangerous in our country than someone who destroys others' property or deals drugs," Amer posted on his blog after being imprisoned.

Source: International Herald Tribune