11 Feb 2013 | Egypt
Over the weekend, an Egyptian court approved a month-long ban on YouTube, for refusal to remove controversial anti-Islam film the Innocence of Muslims. In addition to a ban on YouTube, the same court ordered a ban on any other website hosting the film.
It’s unclear when the ban is meant to go into effect — and a Google (the owner of YouTube) spokesperson on Saturday said that they have not “received nothing from the judge or government related to this matter.”
The film’s trailer sparked angry protests and calls for its removal in September last year, for its crude depiction of Islam’s prophet Muhammad. Cairo was one of the sites of violent protests outside of its American Embassy. Shortly after the start of 11 September protests against the film, Pakistan reportedly blocked YouTube for refusing to remove the video, with Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf declaring that “blasphemous content will not be accepted at any cost.” In addition to Pakistan, Egypt would be joining Bangladesh, Sudan, and Afghanistan in blocking YouTube for hosting clips from the film.
However, Egyptian human rights activist and technology expert Ramy Raoof dismissed the ban as “impractical”, and explained to Egypt Independent yesterday that it would be very difficult — and expensive — for the Egyptian government to actually implement it. Another anonymous expert told the newspaper that even if the ban is implemented, it would be a “very weak solution” as Egyptians “will still find a way around it”.
Egypt’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has yet to respond to the rulings, but activists have pointed out that the government body has shown reluctance to enforce such bans in the past. In 2009 Egypt made a decision to ban pornography that went unenforced. Egyptian prosecutor Abdel Maguid Mahmoud ordered the ban to be enforced in early November last year — but Telecommunications Minister Hany Mahmoud said that it would be “technically difficult” to actually block the sites.
Still, even with doubt cast over the feasibility of its implementation, human rights groups have slammed the ruling as a step backwards for internet freedom after the fall of Mubarak two years ago. Bahey Al Din Hassan, the head of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights told the Wall Street Journal that the ruling reflects the ever-increasing influence of Egypt’s religious conservatives — as well as a sign of even more restrictions on freedom of expression in the country.
Sara Yasin is an editorial assistant at Index. She tweets from @missyasin.
30 Jan 2013 | Egypt
Thousands of protesters took to the streets in three Suez Canal cities on Monday night, defying a night-time curfew and a month-long state of emergency declared by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi a day earlier.
“Down with Mohamed Morsi! No to the emergency law,”they chanted.
In a televised address to the nation on Sunday, the Islamist President announced the imposition of martial law in the restive cities of Port Said, Suez and Ismailia in a bid “to end the bloodshed and protect citizens.” The move came in response to four days of street violence that left more than 50 people dead and hundreds of others injured.
Egyptian police fire tear gas in Alexandria
The latest wave of unrest was sparked by nationwide anti-government protests on the eve of the second anniversary of the mass uprising that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak, that began on 25 Jan 2011. Opposition activists on Friday reiterated the now-familiar revolutionary slogans of “bread, freedom and social justice” and “the people want the downfall of the regime”.
They demanded quicker reforms and called for amendments to the Islamist-tinged constitution passed in a popular referendum in December. The situation deteriorated further after 21 defendants charged with involvement in last February’s violence at Port Said football stadium — the worst football-related violence in the country’s history — were sentenced to death on Sunday. The verdict triggered angry riots and attacks on police stations in Port Said.
The army has been deployed in Port Said and Suez in a bid “to restore stability and protect vital installations,” a military spokesman said on Egyptian TV. “Those who defy the curfew or damage public property will be dealt with harshly,” he warned.
In Alexandria, Egypt’s second city, demonstrators meanwhile staged rallies to protest the return of the much-detested emergency law, which was used for decades by Mubarak to round up opponents, silence voices of dissent and stifle freedom of expression. The protesters accused President Morsi of using the same repressive tactics as his predecessor.
“Morsi is Mubarak,” they shouted, “Down with the rule of the (Muslim Brotherhood) Supreme Guide.”
In recent weeks, a government crackdown on journalists critical of President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood has fuelled concerns of restrictions on press freedoms gained after the January 2011 uprising. Several journalists have faced criminal investigations after being accused by Morsi’s Islamist supporters of “insulting the president”.
In December, a lawsuit was filed against Egypt’s answer to Jon Stewart of the Daily Show — satirist Bassem Youssef — for poking fun at the president on his weekly television programme Al Bernameg (The Programme) on Egyptian independent satellite channel CBC. Youssef appeared on the show hugging a pillow with the president’s picture on it — a gesture mocking Morsi’s repeated calls on Egyptians to “unify ranks and love one another”. While the court dismissed the charge, the case served as a reminder to journalists that the country’s controversial new constitution includes provisions forbidding insults.
Meanwhile the online editor-in-chief for state-sponsored newspaper Al Ahram, Hani Shukrallah, was forced into early retirement this month. Highly respected for his objectivity in covering the news, Shukrallah would not reveal the details surrounding his removal from the post, but some have suggested via Twitter that his dismissal was for not being pro-Muslim Brotherhood.
In December, Islamist protesters staged a sit-in outside the Media Production City calling for “the purging of the media” and accusing independent journalists and talk show hosts of vilifying the Islamist President.
In Cairo, security forces continued battling rock-throwing youths around Kasr-el-Nil, not far from Tahrir Square for a fifth consecutive day on Monday, disrupting traffic in the downtown area. The protesters hurled molotov cocktails at the police and set fire to a police armoured personnel carrier, in scenes reminiscent of “The Friday of Rage” on 28 January 2011.
Members of the 6 April youth movement that called for the mass uprising two years ago condemned the government’s slow response to the violence and warned that the state of emergency would further provoke Morsi’s opponents. They called for a political solution to address the root cause of the problem.
Emerging from talks with the president on Monday night, Ayman Nour, Head of the liberal Ghad Al Thawra Party said that the president had rejected the call for a national unity government but had agreed to amendments to the constitution including articles that opposition political parties say undermine women’s rights.
Rights groups denounced Morsi’s declaration of a state of emergency as “a backward step” that would allow police to resort to the heavy-handed tactics practiced under the ousted regime.
Heba Morayef of Human Rights Watch in Cairo lamented Morsi’s decision to re-impose martial law describing it as “a classic knee-jerk reaction that would pave the way for more abuse by the Ministry of Interior, causing more anger.”
Analysts have expressed fears meanwhile, that the newly-declared state of emergency will plunge the country — battered by weeks of street violence — into deeper political and economic turmoil, and further polarising the already divided country. The emergence of the mysterious “Black Bloc”, a group that has vowed “to protect the goals of the revolution and rid the country of the fascist regime” has raised alarm. Islamists have so far exercised restraint and have stayed away from the protests, in order to avoid the kind of bloody confrontation witnessed in December outside of the presidential palace. They have warned warned however, that their patience is wearing thin, and that they are preparing for combat should the need arise. Such warnings have led some to even express fears of a collapse in Egyptian society. A scenario that would present Egypt’s powerful military with a fresh opportunity to return to power.
17 Dec 2012 | Egypt
A 27 year-old Egyptian blogger has been released on bail pending an appeal of his 12 December conviction for blasphemy and contempt of religion. He was sentenced to three years in jail.
A Coptic Christian turned atheist, Alber Saber was arrested at his home three months ago after neighbours accused him of circulating the anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims on his Facebook page. Although Saber denied the charge — and the prosecutor did not produce any evidence to support that claim — he was convicted and kept behind bars in a tiny cell at Cairo’s Tora prison until his release on Monday.
Saber ran an atheist group on Facebook and the prosecution is based on comparative religion material found on his bookshelf and statements critical of Islam found on his computer. Atheists do not get an easy ride in Egypt.
Looking haggard after his ordeal, in an interview with Index on Sunday he remained defiant saying “no price is too high for freedom.” We talked while Saber was in the Fifth Settlement Court signing papers to appeal his case. He was handcuffed but was in high spirits after learning that he would be released the following day. He was accompanied by his mother, Kariman Messiah and his lawyer Ahmed Ezzat from the Association for Free Thought and Expression.
Saber unzipped his high collar white track suit to show me a brown scar on his throat. “Inmates at El Marg prison where I was first taken after my arrest stabbed me in the throat after the prison guard told them I had insulted Islam,” he recounted, “I’m lucky I’m still alive.”
Ezzat said the case does not auger well for free expression in Egypt under President Mohamed Morsi’s Islamist rule. A draft constitution being put to a popular vote limits religious freedom to followers of the three Abrahamic faiths: Muslims, Christians and Jews. “[R]eligious practices are allowed as long as they do not disturb public order” and the document bans “insulting prophets” — a prohibition that analysts say “will open the door to arrests of bloggers and activists.” Islamists say that a majority yes-vote would usher in stability while opposition groups believe that it will plunge the country into a deeper political crisis.
Saber’s biggest regret is that he was not be able to vote “No” on the consitution he suspects will consolidate power for the Muslim Brotherhood. The first round of the referendum on the draft constitution was held on Saturday while Saber was still behind bars. He says:
I was jailed because we live in a theocracy. The ‘Islamist’ constitution will limit creativity and freedom of expression further
Saber and other sceptics fear that Egypt’s minority Christians — who make up 10 to 12 per cent of the population — will become more of a target as Egypt grows more conservative post-revolution. On 9 October last year, Coptic Christians peacefully demonstrating against the destruction of churches outside of Egypt’s state television complex, Maspero, were brutally attacked by security forces, resulting in the deaths of 27 protesters. In July this year, the Coptic community of Dahshur, a village south of Cairo, were forced to flee after a rise in sectarian tensions.
“Why is Abu Islam a free man? He has not been imprisoned but my son has,” argues Kariman Messiah, Alber’s mother wearing a black “Free Alber Saber” T-shirt. Abu Islam, a radical Muslim cleric is currently on trial for burning the Bible during a 14 September rally protesting the Innocence of Muslims.
Messiah also raised the cases of Bishoy Kamel, a Coptic Christian school teacher from the southern city of Sohag who was sentenced to six years in prison last September for posting cartoons online deemed offensive to Islam and for insulting President Morsi and that of two Coptic children aged 9 and 10 who have been detained on blasphemy charges.
Messiah believes her son was jailed on what she called “trumped-up charges” as a result of his political activism. “In January 2012, state security officers paid us a dawn visit and ransacked our home,” she said, tearing up.
While mother and son were unable to return to their home in Marg for fear that Saber would face further intimidation, Messiah said that “all that matters now is that he is free and will be able to pursue his studies at the Academy.”
For Saber, a Computer Science student now in his final year, the future is uncertain but he vows to continue his free speech activism, no matter how high the stakes.
Shahira Amin is an Egyptian journalist and broadcaster
As Egypt closes 2012 with the approval of a new constitution, Ashraf Khalil reflects on a tumultuous year, and looks ahead to an uncertain future 