Maikel Nabil Sanad
Thanks to that #FF (Follow Friday) thing on Twitter I found a new blog this week. Blogdramedy did an #FF for someone called @the_blacklisted. I liked the tweets so I clicked “follow.” I then checked out the blog and subscribed.
Something on the blacklisted blog caught my eye and motivated me to learn more. Unfortunately the “reblog” function wasn’t working, so I shall attempt to wing it.
Have you heard the story of Maikel Nabil Sanad? He’s a young man, blogger, atheist and political activist from Cairo, Egypt.
The removal from power of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in 2011 after a wave of a civil disobedience was exciting and welcomed by many of us in the west. The question then became: If a void is created, what will fill it?
The fate of Maikel Nabil offers insight into that question.
Back on March 7th, Maikel wrote a blog post entitled “The Army And The People Were Never One Hand.” The post was critical of army abuses of protesters, who Maikel said were “tortured and killed by the Army even after Mubarak’s resigning.”
As a result of the post, he was arrested on charges of spreading false information by Egyptian military authorities on March 28th. About two weeks later he was sentenced to three years in prison including hard labor. He was also fined roughly $30.
In late August, Maikel decided to go on a hunger strike. By October 12th the strike reached it’s 50th day. Maikel’s family was worried the strike would kill him and said that his weight had dropped to 97 pounds.
Today, October 22nd, would be the 60th day of his hunger strike in his quest for freedom.
A search of news stories shows that two days ago Maikel was transferred to a “psychiatric prison” for evaluation after his court appointed lawyer said Maikel was “mentally unstable.” It was reported that the lawyer was appointed by the court without Maikel’s approval and was not well acquainted with Maikel’s case.
Also on Thursday, the European Union urged Egyptian authorities to provide Maikel with proper medical care and adhere to international standards of prisoner treatment:
“The EU has been following with great concern the case of Egyptian blogger (Nabil)… His health condition is claimed to have seriously deteriorated and if he is not immediately moved to facilities where he can receive proper hospital care, his life could be in danger,” a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said.
Spokesman Michael Mann said EU governments had written to the Egyptian foreign ministry to express concern about Nabil’s treatment.
“To date no reply has been received,” he said. “The EU urges the Egyptian authorities to respond and immediately transfer … Nabil to facilities where he can receive proper medical care.”
Source: Reuters Africa
Those in the world who enjoy and support the fundamental right of freedom of speech should stand with Maikel against this sort of evil tyranny. Everything is not all well and good in Egypt. We know that now thanks to people like Maikel.
Shouts from the Abyss 
I discovered the_blacklisted recently. Awesome…as is this post. š
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Agreed. I wish I had anything eloquent to add, but you’ve said it perfectly.
I suppose I can only add an “argh.”
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I really feel for the dude. I asked myself, “What would I do in his place?” About the only answer I could come up with was ramming my head into the steal bars as fast as I could possibly run. I don’t handle injustice too well.
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[…] is a follow-up to my earlier post entitled “Tyranny in Egypt” about Egyptian political prison Maikel Nabil, his hunger strike, and his quest for justice […]
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