The will to silence free speech is a defining trait of autocratic and dictatorial regimes. The rulers of such states do not merely fear the contagion of dissent, they become so addicted to the flattery of courtiers that they develop a pathological sensitivity to all forms of criticism. Judging by the four-year sentence handed out to Egyptian blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil, 22, last week — three years for disparaging Islam and one for insulting President Hosni Mubarak — Egypt’s government is suffering from an acute case of hypersensitivity. The blogger offended Islamist radicals as well as Egypt’s political rulers with a posting in 2005 that decried anti-Christian riots that year in Alexandria. He described beatings he had witnessed of Egyptian Copts and the looting of Coptic-owned stores. These riots were incited by Islamists complaining that a Coptic church insulted their religion.

The heart of free speech must be the inviolate right to offend even the most powerful forces in a society. This is a truth too often forgotten — and not only by the autocratic states. Nabil deserves to be defended by democrats everywhere. Astonishingly, Egypt is campaigning to be host of the United Nations Internet Governance Forum in 2009, and the world’s democracies could start by opposing that bid.