18 Bloggers Arrested Near Nag Hammadi

Eighteen Egyptian bloggers, including prominent blogger Wa'el ‘Abbas, have been arrested in on their way to Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt, apparently due to an impending visit by the Sheikh al-Azhar. Is State Security afraid they'll blog at him, or what?

One of them, Amira al-Tahawy, has been quoted as saying they were left without food or water for 10 hours. Also of concern, the Interior Ministry is apparently denying the arrests.

The huge amounts of attention media and Internet coverage have given to the Christmas Eve killings has focused attention on Nag Hammadi, and State Security does not like to work in the limelight. Let's hope this is resolved soon.

More here. The English is awkward but the names are hotlinked to their blogs.

This will be the three day Martin Luther King holiday weekend in the US, though if anything demands it, I'll try to post.