Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman (better known as Kareem Amer) is a 24-year-old from a religious family in Alexandria. Describing himself as a committed human rights activist, Kareem began expressing his personal, and generally secular, democratic opinions on his blog. Upon discovering his writings, the Al-Azhar administration expelled Kareem in 2006 (and referred his case to state prosecutors) for criticizing the state-run religious university, allegedly promoting extremist ideas, and for referring to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as a dictator.

Kareem was first arrested in 2005 and detained for 12 days for his blog postings on the sectarian riots between Copts and Muslims in Alexandria. He was later expelled from Al-Azhar University, where he was studying law, when school officials discovered articles he had written on his blog. In his writing Kareem criticized his university's gender segregation policy, advocated for secularism, and denouced the Grand Sheik of Al-Azhar. His case was referred to state prosecutors where he was accused of promoting extremist ideas and referring to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as a dictator. In February 2007, Kareem was convicted on charges of insulting Islam and defaming the President of Egypt, and was sentenced to four years in the Borg El-Arab prison.

On November 15, 2010, Kareem was released from jail. He had served his four-year sentence, and ten extra days he was kept in prison unlawfully. While incarcerated, Kareem sent letters and statements criticizing the regime. On the fourth anniversary of his imprisonment (November 5, 2010), numerous organizations and activists, including CyberDissidents.org, held world-wise protests condemning the blogger's imprisonment. Kareem's imprisonment became the longest for any person expressing his or her beliefs online.  On February 7th, Kareem was abducted when returning from Tahrir Square with a friend. Several days later, however, he was released.