CAIRO: The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights [EIPR] urged the government to release Quranist blogger Reda Abdel Rahman, who was arrested last Monday for his religious views. The Quranists are a group of Muslims who consider the Quran to be the sole source of Islamic jurisprudence and are often slammed with accusations that include denying the sunnah, or traditions and sayings of Prophet Mohamed. The group argues that only the Quran can be used to establish laws in Islam and claim that the sunnah is not reliable. There has been a crackdown on Quranists in recent years, and the state has accused them of disrespecting and corrupting Islam. EIPR filed a complaint calling on the prosecutor general to investigate the detention, which they argue is solely because of his religious views. This contradicts the Egyptian constitution's freedom of religion statutes. Once again the state's secret intelligence violates the constitutional right of freedom of expression with impunity, EIPR executive director Hossam Bahgat told Daily News Egypt. We call on the prosecutor general to secure Abdel Rahman s release and investigate his unlawful detention. Bahgat added. Abdel Rahman, 32, is a social worker in a preparatory school affiliated to Al-Azhar University, and was arrested at his home in Sharqiya on Oct. 27. According to the EIPR, police confiscated Abdel Rahman s computer and a number of his books and CDs. This is not the first time Abdel Rahman is taken into custody for articles that he had written on his blog, "Justice Freedom and Peace. He was arrested once before last July. Abdel Rahman is the latest victim of systemic violations of freedom of belief and expression by the state security intelligence, said Adel Ramadan, EIPR lawyer representing Abdel Rahman. We are waiting for the prosecutor general to intervene immediately to stop these violations and end impunity for their perpetrators.
