While some bloggers are so successful in entertaining thousands of people that they are offered book deals (and more power to them), Abdel-Karim Nabil Suleiman, a young Egyptian blogger has been sentenced to four years jail. Absolutely ridiculous. How terrible for him.

Suleiman was one of several bloggers arrested last year, most of whom have connections to Egypt's pro-democracy reform movement. Others were freed but he was put on trial -- a sign of the sensitivity of his writings on religion. He was first detained in 2005 after criticising Muslim rioters in a post about sectarian clashes in his neighbourhood headlined The Naked Truth of Islam as I Saw it.

...Blogging is increasingly used across the Arab world to challenge governments and discuss taboos. In Egypt it has helped get around restrictions on traditional media. The pro-democracy Kifaya movement and the banned Muslim Brotherhood group have created many websites and encourage blogging.

Egypt is a traditional centre of cultural and intellectual life.

The case highlights the way secular regimes are showing increasing sensitivity about criticism of Islam for fear of helping the cause of opposition Islamist movements.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006