Egypt court endorses verdict on blogger

CAIRO, March 12 (UPI) -- An Egyptian appeals court endorsed a verdict sentencing a blogger to 4 years in prison on charges of insulting Islam and the president.

Judicial sources said Monday an appeals court in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria approved the verdict issued last month against 22-year-old Abdul Karim Nabil Amer. He was convicted on charges of "ridiculing Islam and insulting" President Hosni Mubarak.

Arrested last November, Amer is the first blogger to be sentenced to prison in Egypt.

Amer, who described the charges against him as politically-oriented, had criticized on his "Karim Amer" blog Egypt's al-Azhar University, the most prestigious Islamic higher education institution in which he was a student. He described it as a "terror university" that suppresses freedom of expression, and was later expelled from there and a law suit was subsequently filed against him.

Amer also criticized Mubarak's regime, saying it was a "symbol of dictatorship."

The Egyptian authorities last year arrested a number of anti-government bloggers who were calling for reforms, but they were quickly released. Local and international rights groups have condemned Amer's sentencing and are demanding his release.