Tag Archives: freedom of speech

 
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No free Internet here


As the U.N. pressures the Egyptian government to release jailed bloggers and journalists, and Bangladeshi blogger Tasneem Khalil is released after less than 24 hours in jail, freedom of citizen media seems to be taking the front page.

Belarus, Egypt, Bangladesh, Iran, China, Singapore, and Libya have all detained bloggers or other Internet personalities thus far.  Although Morocco has not, freedom as it pertains to the Internet has a long way to go.

In December of 2006, two journalists were arrested for analyzing jokes made on the Moroccan street in Nichane, Morocco's only magazine written in dialect.  Reporters Without Borders called the actions "insane and archaic," a sentiment which was echoed throughout the Moroccan blogosphere.

And yet few have even mentioned the fact that Morocco censors the Internet.  Unlike China's extreme censorship, Morocco has only banned a few sites, mostly related to the Western Sahara.  Additionally, Livejournal has been banned for a little over a year, and Google Earth is only sporadically accessible, allegedly because its close shots offer views of the Moroccan royal family's many palaces.

Reporters Without Borders has offered help; the 2005 publication of "The Handbook for Bloggers and Cyberdissidents" (available for free online) teaches Internet users how to sidestep government censorship by the use of proxies and other innovations.

But beyond that, I say it's time we take a stand against Internet censorship!  Who's with me? 

 

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The case of Abdel-Monem Mahmoud


The case of Abdel-Monem Mahmoud, a blogger and member of the Muslim Brotherhood is the second of its kind in Egypt, a country where press freedom has greatly deteriorated in the past few years, according to a report released by the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) on May 3, International Press Freedom Day.  The report, entitled “Backsliders,” listed Egypt in seventh place, after Ethiopia, Gambia, Russia, DRC, Cuba, and Pakistan.  Following Egypt were Azerbaijan, Morocco, and Thailand.

Abdel Kareem Soliman was the first blogger to be arrested in Egypt.  He was sentenced in November 2006 to four years in prison for insulting Islam and President Hosni Mubarak.  His trial lasted five minutes.

Monem is quite a different personality from Soliman; a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, he was previously arrested for “belonging to an illegal organization” when he met with Brotherhood members to organize an anti-war rally.  Monem is a devoted human-rights activist, and was among the first to go to Darfur to speak with high-ranking officials there.

He also spoke out about the arrest of fellow Egyptian blogger Soliman, despite his personal disagreement with Soliman's statements against Islam.  In a post written on March 7, 2007 (originally in Arabic) in Monem's own blog, Ana Ikhwan (“I am a brother”), Monem defended Soliman, saying:

To begin with, I disagree with the opinions of Abdel Kareem, but I believe that it’s unfair for the security forces to treat him this way, punish him for his personal opinions, and sentence him for his so-called “contempt for the president.” I believe that this behavior is unfair to a young man who, along with his friends, will not change his ideas simply because he fears punishment at the hands of the security forces.

The post, translated to English by Fatima Azzahra El Azzouzi, is here.

More coverage on the case of Abdel-Monem Mahmoud can be found at the Free Monem site as well as at Global Voices Online.

Dear Reader, In The Fray is a nonprofit staffed by volunteers. If you liked this piece, could you please donate $10? If you want to help, you can also: