CAIRO: Blogger Hany Nazeer who had been held in administrative detention without charge for almost two years, was released on Thursday, the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) said. Nazeer had been detained in October 2008 after Muslims in Nazeer's home town of Naga Hamadi, Qena, found a link to an electronic novel called “Azazeel's Goat in Mecca” written by an individual calling himself Father Utah. The novel is a response to “Azazeel” by Muslim author Youssef Zeidan which centers on the philosophical battles between an Egyptian Coptic monk and the devil in the 5th century. ANHRI said in a press statement issued last year that the group of Muslims were angered by attacks on Islam contained in “Azazeel's Goat in Mecca” and concluded that Nazeer was the author. The NGO said that security forces “took the opportunity to arrest [Nazeer] in order to get rid of the problems raised by his blog because of his opposition to both Muslim and Christian hardliners.” According to ANHRI, Aziz had previously criticized the Coptic church's hosting of Christian hardliners in church conferences, writing on his blog that “the church is a place for prayer and not for politics.” In December 2008 the supreme emergency state security court ordered that Nazeer be released. Rather than being released, however, Nazeer was taken to Qena from Alexandria's Borg El-Arab prison and a fresh detention order issued against him by the interior ministry. Nazeer's release is the latest in a number of releases of detainees held without charge under emergency law powers. In May of this year a presidential decree restricted the application of emergency law powers to narcotics and drugs cases. Despite the releases, rights groups say that thousands of individuals who should have been released pursuant to the amendment remain in administrative detention.
