Sami Ben Gharbia · May, 2007

Latest posts by Sami Ben Gharbia from May, 2007

Egypt: Monem will be freed and Amr Gharbeia interrogated

  30 May 2007

Blogger Abdel-Monem Mahmoud appeared today before the Public Prosecutor who ordered to release him after 45 days in custody. “Monem and his group are expected to be release on Saturday after completing paperwork.” said his lawyer. Hossam el-Hamalawy reported that the Egyptian blogger Amr Gharbeia has been interrogated today on...

Morocco: ban on YouTube lifted

  30 May 2007

The block on the video-sharing Web site YouTube has been lifted yesterday and the Moroccan blogsphere is celebrating its victory and planning to continue the struggle to unblock Google Earth and Livejournal. “Najib Omrani, a spokesman for the state-controlled telecommunications company Maroc Telecom, said Moroccans were unable to access YouTube...

Block of Youtube: the Moroccan blogosphere react

  28 May 2007

A petition has been launched by Maghrebism to protest the block of the video-sharing site Youtube by Maroc Telecom (Vivendi International). “We demand that Maroc Telecom and Vivendi Universal immediately stop the current online censorship on YouTube and all other services being censored, which is a violation of the right...

Morocco blocks access to YouTube

  26 May 2007

Yesterday, May 25, 2007, it has been reported by numerous Moroccan blogger that Morocco has blocked access to YouTube video sharing website. There have been many ongoing speculations that the ban followed the broadcasting of material critical of the country's king and pro-Western Sahara. This is the third major sites...

Yemen: Censorship of tow opposition news websites

  24 May 2007

The Yemen's Ministry of Telecommunications has blocked access to two opposition news websites (www.al-shoura.net and www.aleshteraki.net) because they are reporting about the humanitarian situation and the fighting in the northern province of Sa'ada between the army and Shia rebels. According to aid workers the clashes “led to the deaths of...

Fijian Freedom bloggers and the military junta

  23 May 2007

It seems that the persecution faced by the anti-military Fijian Freedom Bloggers – who are using blogs to protest against the coup of December 5th, 2006- has subsided following a decision by the Fiji Military Forces (FMF) to stop hunting for anti-military bloggers and abandon its efforts to block the...

Tunisia: Blogger and journalist Slim Boukhdir repeatedly assaulted

  22 May 2007

The Tunisian Journalist and blogger Slim Boukhdhir was assaulted as he left an Internet café in Tunis after blogging about the responsibility of Houssem Trabelsi, brother of Tunisia’s first lady, in the deadly concert stampede in Sfax (Star Academy concert) on 30 April, in which seven young people were killed....

Monem: first blog-post from prison

  17 May 2007

The Egyptian blogger Abdel-Monem Mahmoud managed to smuggle his first blog-post from his prison cell in Torah Mahkoum where he is being detained for a renewable term of fifteen days: “Despite all what happened from prison, torture, corruption and poverty; I am still in love with you Egypt. I might...

Fiji: Blogs are a threat to national security

  16 May 2007

On May 14th, Intelligentsiya reported that the army's Land Force Commander has a list of about 20 people who will be arrested in connection with anti-military blogs. It has also been reported that the Fiji Military Forces (FMF) have pressured FINTEL, Fiji's only ISP, to block blogspot.com blogging platform, nearly...

Egypt must release bloggers before UN Rights Council elections

  15 May 2007

Egypt must release jailed bloggers before Thursday's elections for the UN Human Rights Council, said UN Watch, a human rights organization based in Geneva in a statement issued today. Among other conditions, UN Watch requires that Egypt “must release journalist Huwaida Taha Mitwalli, who is currently imprisoned for attempting to...

Syria: censorship and repression

  14 May 2007

Based on a list, by ISP, provided by the Syrian center for media and freedom of Expression, the Tharwa community has posted a brief history of the Internet Filtering in Syria, which describes the crackdown on online freedom of speech. Most of the blocked websites are related to freedom of...

Google shareholders reject anti-censorship proposal

  11 May 2007

Jeremy Gordon, CEO of China Business Services, which help companies enter the Chinese market, blogged today on the China Business Blog about the interview he had with BBC’s 5 Live radio about the controversial Google’s censorship policy in China. This came after the majority of Google shareholders voted against the...

Thailand gets new cyber bill

  10 May 2007

“Thailand's National Legislative Assembly approved a controversial law this week which could seriously effect how Thailand's internet users use the web“, writes Daniel at “Metroblogging Bangkok. “This single law could put Thailand in the same category as China and Burma with regards to censorship and the lack of a democratic...

Free Monem Podcast

  9 May 2007

Free Monem campaign member Mary Joyce was interviewed yesterday, on May 8, by the activist-blogger and podjournalist at CitizenReporter.org, Mark Fonseca Rendeiro. They talked about Monem and his work, the Muslim Brotherhood, the crackdown on Egyptian bloggers and the Free Monem campaign. You can listen to the resulting podcast here.

Egypt: open war on bloggers

  8 May 2007

“The war on bloggers started in Egypt and every morning brings a new episode” wrote Nora Younis on her blog today. Nora linked to a SMS/Twitter alert sent to her by blogger Amr Gharbeia: “I was summoned by the prosecutor general to appear on Thursday next in North Cairo interrogator...

Jailed blogger Abdel-Monem went on open hunger strike

  7 May 2007

Jailed blogger Abdel-Monem Mahmoud along with 23 other jailed students from the Institute of Agricultural Engineering threatened to begin a hunger strike on Tuesday May 8 in protest of their harsh detention conditions. According to a hunger strike statement sent today, the detainees claimed that they were subject to sexual...

Saudi Arabia: Milyani's blog has been blocked

  5 May 2007

There's a thrilling debate on the Saudi blogsphere after the news of blocking Mohammed Milyani's blog by the Internet Services Unit (ISU). And even if there is a strong speculation that the block is due to a technical issue, since it is only targeting few pages and not the whole...

Abdel-Monem Mahmoud: the Egyptian totalitarian regime is the problem

  4 May 2007

As I promised in my last article “Online Freedom for All: Some cases worth supporting”, I’m publishing here the translation of the interview I did with the jailed Egyptian blogger and journalist Abdel-Monem Mahmoud at the 3rd annual Al Jazeera Forum in Doha, Qatar, two weeks before Monem’s arrest. Monem...

RSF: petition to free Kareem and Monem

  4 May 2007

Reporters Without Borders has launched today a petition calling the Egyptian regime to free the tow Egyptian bloggers Kareem Amer and Abdel-Monem Mahmoud. RSF is urging Internet-users to sign this petition and block Egypt from hosting the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in 2008 (conference organized under the UN mantle) unless...

Free Monem Campaign

  3 May 2007

As the world celebrates World Press Freedom Day, the Egyptian journalist and blogger, Abdel Monem Mahmoud, sits in jail after reporting on torture and condemning the transferring civilians to military tribunals. On this occasion, few bloggers and activists from around the world have launched the Free Monem campaign. “ We...