Free Mohammed Maree and end the racism of Arab governments
“Journalism Is Not a Crime” — this has become the rallying cry of James Karl Buck, a UC Berkeley journalism student who was arrested by Egyptian police while covering demonstrations in Mahalla, Egypt earlier this year. When he was arrested, James posted an update to his Twitter feed informing activists and bloggers around the world of what had happened. Within two days, UC Berkeley administrators had managed to arrange for the American embassy in Egypt to send a lawyer to the police station at which James was held in order to arrange for his release.
James was arrested with his local Egyptian translator, Mohammad Maree. While James was allowed to leave, authorities refused to release Mohammed, even though they periodically lied and claimed that he was no longer in jail. Mohammed is now held at the al-Borg prison in Alexandria, where it has been confirmed he was tortured with electricity. As the Egyptian government continues to violently attack its own people, it is clear that James was spared primarily because of his US citizenship. James has relentlessly been doing what he can back in the US to put public pressure on the Egyptian government, which receives billions of American taxpayer dollars every year, to release Mohammed.
Like the imperial stagehands that they are, our lovely Arab governments have always loved people from the West more than their own citizens. What’s there not to love? Treating Americans nicely might win you a dinner at the White House, or fawning praise from Thomas Friedman at the New York Times for being “progressive” or “moderate” while your own people are rotting in jails because of your arrogance and cruelty or starving because of your incompetence. Lend a helping hand to James’ campaign to free Mohammed by signing the petition, and fight the racism of Arab governments.
