CyberDissidents.org is thrilled at today's news that Egyptian dictator, Hosni Mubarak, has stepped down after three decades in power. We hope this encourages oppressed nations throughout the world to demand greater freedom. We are also overjoyed to report that Egyptian blogger and CyberDissidents.org blogger board member, Kareem Amer, was released late last night after nearly a week in prison. Kareem's harrowing experience and our analysis of this momentous day follows.

The Experts Were Wrong, Again
Reuters
By David Keyes
February 11, 2011

Moments ago, Egypt's dictator, Hosni Mubarak, stepped down after 30 years in power — following on the heels of Tunisia's dictator who fled his country after ruling for 23 years. At this remarkable moment in Middle Eastern history, it is worth recalling what scholars, diplomats and pundits said in years past about stability in Egypt and Tunisia. This jog down memory lane is one of those delicious moments where the experts are yet again proved ignorant of the present and incapable of predicting the future. In 2007, then US ambassador to Egypt, Francis Riccardione, declared that the country was the "rock of stability in this region." Two weeks ago, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said, "the Egyptian government is stable" and State Department spokesman PJ Crowley echoed that Egypt was an "anchor of stability." For more, click here.

I Saw Torture in an Egyptian Prison
The Daily Beast
By Ahed Al Hendi
February 10, 2011

Famed Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer and his friend, filmmaker Samir Eshra, are now free after nearly a week in prison. In a phone call with CyberDissidents.org hours after they were released, Amer described the events surrounding his capture and confinement.  On February 7, a group of thugs attempted to confiscate his friend's videotapes after they left Tahrir Square. The thugs handed the blogger and filmmaker over to military police for having violated the curfew. Amer spent one day in a local prison and was later shipped to an army jail in what he described as "the middle of the desert."  I asked Kareem if the prison was similar to Borj Al Arab, the jail where he spent the last four years for having criticized the Egyptian dictator and "insulted" Islam. "No way," he said. "This prison was like a trash-can. The cell was tiny and the bathroom was disgusting. They did not allow us to shower even once since we were arrested. People were treated harshly and severely tortured on a daily basis. They were tortured in front of our eyes--water-boarded, beaten with sticks, and electrocuted."  For more, click here.

Kareem Amer's Last Phone Call
The Daily Beast
By David Keyes
February 10, 2011

If one man symbolizes the price of Egyptian tyranny, it is the young blogger Kareem Amer. He spent the last four years in an Egyptian prison for criticizing President Hosni Mubarak and "insulting" Islam on his website. Amer was released three months ago, but disappeared Sunday. I may have been the last Westerner to speak with Kareem, only hours before he went missing.  "Mubarak has been in power for almost 30 years and this period was so miserable and so full of human-rights violations that it is difficult to convey in a single article," Amer told me Saturday evening. "The crimes and violations have been too numerous to count under President Mubarak. Many human-rights activists and journalists were imprisoned during his reign. Some were beaten and subjected to horrible physical torture. Others were abducted and disappeared without a trace." For more, click here.