CAIRO: A blogger detained for almost two years before being released without charge has been dismissed from his teaching position, an NGO said on Thursday. The Qena Directorate of Education held that Hany Nazeer, a training specialist in a preparatory school in Qena, absented himself without leave during the 21 months he was in detention, the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) said. Nazeer had been detained in October 2008 under emergency law powers after Muslims in Nazeer's home town of Nagaa Hammadi, 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. 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.” ANHRI said in a previous press statement that the 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.” “The Ministry of Education's excuse for dismissing [Nazeer] is unacceptable,” ANHRI said in a press statement. “State Security Investigations should be held responsible for illegally detaining [Nazeer] for his opinions in defiance of court release orders. The blogger should have been compensated for the violations and arbitrary actions committed by the interior ministry while in prison, but ironically he found more violations and harassment outside prison.”
