The Mubarak legacy: Torture, imprisonment, repression of dissent, murder, disappearances

David Keyes, director of CyberDissidents.org. describes Hosni Mubarak´s human rights horrors:

Few know the cruelty of Mubarak’s regime better than (Kareem) Amer, who spent the last four years in prison for criticizing the dictator and “insulting” Islam on his blog. When I asked him to describe Mubarak’s record, he said: “Many human-rights activists and journalists were imprisoned during his reign. Some were beaten and tortured. Others were abducted or disappeared without a trace. The most important of these incidents was the disappearance of the Egyptian journalist Reda Helal in the heart of Cairo in 2003. Many believe the security services were behind the abduction because of his political views.” Amer said the worst of Mubarak’s crimes have been committed in the past few days. “The security forces have used great violence against demonstrators,” he said. “They opened fire on them, killing scores.”

Read the entire article here.

PS

CyberDissidents.org. now reports that Kareem Amer went missing last night in Cairo:

CyberDissidents.org has just received word that Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer, recently released after four years in prison, has disappeared.  Kareem is a member of CyberDissidents.org's blogger board and we are horrified at this news. 
Last night around 11 pm Kareem left Tahrir square with a friend.  They were warned not to go through Kasr Elnil because of ambushes and arrests there.  It is not known if they used that exit, but Kareem and his friend have not been heard from since.  Their phones are off and they are not in their apartments.  "Mubarak has started to hunt us down," a friend of Kareem's told CyberDissidents.org.  "One more week in power and he will kill us all." 

PS 2
Maybe it is good to remind readers about what Obama´s Egypt envoy Frank Wisner had to say about his friend, the dictator:

Wisner said he considered Mubarak’s continued leadership in his country “critical.”

“It’s his opportunity to write his own legacy -- he’s given 60 years of his life to the service of his country,” Wisner said. “This is an ideal moment for him to show his way forward, not just in maintaining stability and responsible government, but actually shaping and giving authority to the transition that has to be underway.”