Recent blasphemy cases raise concerns among local and international human rights groups over limits on freedom of expression, reports Khaled Dawoud The last thing Nevine Al-Sayed, a social studies teacher in a village near Assiut, expected was that she would be accused of blasphemy by one of her pupils after teaching a lesson that included the life of Prophet Mohamed. According to the Interior Ministry, one of the 40 students in her class told his father that the teacher ridiculed the prophet. The parent took his child to the police, and filed a complaint against Al-Sayed, a Christian, accusing her of blasphemy. Facing an angry mob who gathered in front of her house,Al-Sayed's family felt threatened and decided to leave their house and go live with relatives in Assiut. Her husband, meanwhile, faced great difficulty in finding a lawyer to attend the investigation with her in the mostly conservative town of Assiut, known as a hotbed for radical Islamist groups and the Muslim Brotherhood. After investigation, and spending the night at the police station, Al-Sayed was released on Monday pending trial, mainly because of her pregnancy. The case of Alber Saber, a 27-year-old computer science graduate charged with blasphemy, has attracted international attention. For years Saber has been posting short videos and articles on social media websites critical of all religions. He also shared the video on Prophet Mohamed that was posted on YouTube and caused uproar across the Muslim world. One of Saber's "friends" on Facebook felt angry and mobilised residents in the densely populated neighbourhood of Al-Marg in eastern Cairo to attack him on 12 September. They surrounded the building in which he lives with his mother and sister and started chanting slogans. Saber's mother immediately called the police to seek protection. The police arrived but instead of dispersing the mob took him to the police station after confiscating his personal computer and several CDs. Before locking him in a cell the arresting officer told other detainees that Saber had insulted the Prophet Mohamed. That was enough to provoke the prisoners to attack Saber, beat him up, and wound him in the neck with a sharp object. Saber was referred to trial last week, charged with blasphemy and spreading false news. He could face up to five years in prison if convicted. During the initial hearing -- further hearings have been delayed until 17 October -- Saber raised his hand in a victory sign and insisted he had done nothing wrong. Meanwhile, his mother and sister have been forced to leave their apartment. "He is a prisoner of conscience arrested solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression," said a statement issued by Amnesty International on Friday. The international human rights groups urged the Egyptian authorities to release Saber immediately and unconditionally. They also called on the authorities to ensure Saber and his family are protected from further harassment and demanded "a thorough, independent and impartial investigation into Alber Saber Ayad's treatment in detention". While Saber awaits trial the Appeals Court in Sohag confirmed a six-year prison sentence against Bishoi Al-Beheiri for blasphemy and insulting President Mohamed Mursi. Al-Beheiri was charged with posting messages critical of Islam and President Mursi on his Facebook account. He had claimed that someone else created the Facebook page in his name, a defence the court refused. "The minute we entered the courtroom we felt there was something wrong," Mohamed Khedr, a lawyer at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) who defended Bishoi, told Al-Ahram Weekly. "There were mainly bearded lawyers who started chanting slogans against me because I'm a Muslim lawyer who decided to defend a Christian accused of insulting the prophet." He added that one lawyer came up to him and said: "You are an infidel�ê� You are a disgrace to Islam." Police officers in Sohag had promised Bishoi's defence team protection, says Khedr. As soon as the verdict was out they were sneaked out of the courtroom. "The officers took us to a back exit and told us to run until we found a taxi to get us out of town. And that's what we did, we kept on running." While the majority of recent blasphemy cases have involved Christians, Mohamed Asfour, a Shia, was arrested in a mosque last month because he was praying according to Shia rituals. He was later charged with "desecrating a place of worship". This week also saw the opening of the trial of the Muslim preacher known as Abu Islam who, together with his son, a journalist in Al-Tahrir newspaper, is accused of blasphemy. Abu Islam burned a copy of the Bible in front of the US embassy during protests against the 14-minute film The Innocence of Muslims, telling the crowds that he would bring his son to urinate on the Bible if the US government did not arrest those who produced the offensive film. Amr Gharbeya, civil liberties director at EIPR, notes the rise in blasphemy cases following the election successes of the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist groups. "Under the former regime we used to have one or two cases of blasphemy each year. But over the past year and half there have been at least 15 cases involving blasphemy." While it is clearly worrying that many blasphemy cases involve Christians Gharbeya points to other disturbing factors. "We need to see who is being arrested and charged in blasphemy cases. While members of certain sects or social classes are immediately arrested and sent to trial others seem to get away with it because they are famous or well-known." Actor Adel Imam was charged with blasphemy because an extremist lawyer claimed that some of his old movies insulted Islam. After lengthy legal procedures Imam was finally acquitted. Gharbeya is also worried about attacks on lawyers who have defended those involved in blasphemy cases. "Everybody feels empowered after the 25 January Revolution. This is a positive development, but it should not be translated into disregarding due legal process." He also warns against the intimidation of judges and prosecutors in conservative regions like Assiut and Sohag. "When you see hundreds of people demonstrating inside and outside the courtroom this clearly puts a lot of pressure on judges and potentially derails the entire notion of justice being done," Gharbeya told the Weekly.
