Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman, the Egyptian blogger who was arrested after criticizing the Egyptian government on his blog, has been disowned by his father:

The family of Al-Azhar student Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman, accused of “contempt of religion”, has disowned him before his court verdict session on the upcoming Thursday. His father, a retired mathematics teacher, has demanded applying the Sharia [Islamic law] ruling on him by giving him three days to repent, followed by having him killed if he does not announce his repentance.

Kareem’s blog is known to have advocated secularism and women’s rights. He had been arrested after criticizing Muslim’s roles in riots in Alexandria in 2005 in response to a play performed at a Coptic church. He was later expelled from Al-Azhar University for criticizing fundamentalist professors there.

He was arrested for the final time on November 6, 2006, for blog posts deemed “anti-religious” by the Egyptian authorities, and now stands trial incitement to “hate” Islam, defaming the president of Egypt, and other bogus charges. He faces up to 11 years in prison if convicted. Unfortunately, Kareem’s lawyer is “very pessimistic” about the verdict.

Amnesty International has come to Kareem’s defense. So should, as Michelle Malkin points out, our State Department.

UPDATE: This post is taking part in the Beltway Traffic Jam.