Does the King Have the Flu?

In August, the royal palace announced that King Mohammed VI was ill with a “viral, benign disease.”  Amid an epidemic of H1N1 flu, several journalists questioned the palace's official announcement, suggesting that the monarch was ill with the flu virus or that he had “abused immunodepressants to treat asthma.”  In mid-September, authorities began calling in and arresting journalists who had written on the subject.  Editor Ali Anouzla and journalist Bochra Daou of Al Jarida Al Oula are expected to stand trial October 21, while on October 15, the editors and journalists associated with Al-Michaal were handed a grave sentence: Editor Driss Chahtan was sentenced to a year in prison, while journalists Mostafa Hiran and Rashid Mahameed were given three months in prison ‎and‎ a 5,000 dirham (US$655) fine each for “intentionally publishing false information” in a number of articles about King Mohamed VI’s health.

A number of organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Solidarité Maroc, have condemned the decisions, and bloggers have reached out in solidarity with the journalists.

The Prince's Wedding Bells

Shortly after the wedding of Prince Moulay Ismail, Moroccan daily Akhbar Al Youm published a cartoon featuring the prince amongst several 6-pointed stars of David.  The Moroccan Interior Ministry condemned the cartoon, calling it “blatant disrespect to a member of the royal family” and stating that the use of the Jewish symbol “raises many questions on the insinuations of the people behind it and suggests flagrant anti-Semitic penchants.”  On September 29, police prevented staffers of the paper from entering their offices, effectively hampering publication.  According to CPJ, the Interior Ministry has no right to shutter a paper, only to prevent the publication of an issue criticizing the royal family.  Still, editor Taoufik Bouachrine and cartoonist Kalid Kadar  face criminal defamation charges on October 23.

A number of prominent bloggers, including Larbi and A Moroccan About the World Around Him covered the story, the latter writing:

The Moroccan government has grown increasingly sensitive to the country’s independent media as they broached subjects considered verboten. Its judicial and political cannonade of independent journalists and artists, and the newspapers and magazines they work for belies its averment it advocates and protects freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Some observers pointed out that the government stands as the backstage instigator of the ad hominem bickering plaguing the independent media these days.

Digital Activists Defend Human Rights Activist

Part of the Free Chakib photo campaign

Human rights activist Chakib Khayari, a leader in the fight against drug trafficking in Morocco, was arrested in February 2009 for “gravely offending” Moroccan state institutions by criticizing lax drug interdiction policies. Khayari was then sentenced (on June 24, 2009) to three years in prison.  Human Rights Watch condemned the actions of the Moroccan government.

Khayari's sentence has sparked a campaign amongst the Moroccan digital activist community, with a Flickr photo campaign, Facebook group, and Twitter account being used to spread awareness.

On October 15, Khayari appealed the case.  His trial resumes October 22.

And Another One Bites the Dust…

During the writing of this article, it was discovered that yet another Moroccan publication has come under fire.  Le Journal Hebdomadaire, a French-language weekly, has been slapped with a fine of 250,000 euros by the Moroccan Supreme Court, to be paid to a Brussels-based research center. The European Center of Security and Strategic Intelligence (ESISC) brought about the case because an 2005 article entitled “The Polisario Front, credible partner for negotiations or aftermath of the Cold War and prevent a political solution to Sahara?”

Al Khayari was convicted of “gravely insulting state institutions,” and of minor violations of regulations governing foreign bank accounts and currency.

A campaign for Al Khayari is underway, with a Twitter account (@freechakib) chronicling activist efforts for Chakib's release, a video on YouTube, and a Web site [Arabic].

From the Great Firewall to the Myanmar Wide Web, Asia is well-known for its practices in Internet filtering. China has long taken the lead in blocking Web sites, filtering sites across the spectrum - from social to political content, pornography to Internet tools. The OpenNet Initiative (full disclosure: I'm involved) has been studying the Internet in Asia and around the world since 2002, and has just released its latest reports on Internet surveillance and controls in Asia, and specifically in China.

New research from the OpenNet Initiative (ONI) reveals accelerating restrictions on Internet content as Asian governments shift to next generation controls. These new techniques go beyond blocking access to websites and are more informal and fluid, implemented at edges of the network, and are often backed up by increasingly restrictive and broadly interpreted laws.

According to an recent ONI press release:

“Since 2006, many Asian governments have quickly realized the potential benefits of exploiting opportunities for conducting propaganda or public relations strategies over the Internet, even while cracking down on independent and critical voices thriving in these online spaces- an example of the evolution towards next generation controls,” said Ron Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto and one of four principal investigators at the ONI.

These controls were evidenced recently in ONI's analysis of China's latest attempt at controlling the flow of information, Green Dam Youth Escort filtering software mandated for pre-installation on PCs sold in China starting July 1. “However, even China's example demonstrates that restrictions on information are far from uniformly effective, and will meet resistance and be contested by the very groups they are intended to silence,” said Rafal Rohozinski, CEO of the SecDev Group and co-founder and principal investigator of ONI and ONI Asia.

The reports for Asia, as well as Burma, China, Pakistan, and South Korea will be featured in a forthcoming MIT Press volume, Access Controlled: The Shaping of Rights, Rule, and Power in Cyberspace, to be published by MIT Press (2010). Access Controlled will include a series of analytical chapters and regional overviews that contribute to the developing discourse around global Internet regulation and censorship raised in the first ONI volume Access Denied: The Practice and Policy of Global Internet Filtering, (Cambridge: MIT Press) 2008. ]]> http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/2009/06/17/opennet-initiative-releases-results-on-filtering-in-asia/feed/ 0 http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/2009/04/19/linkedin-restores-services-to-syrian-users/ http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/2009/04/19/linkedin-restores-services-to-syrian-users/#comments Sun, 19 Apr 2009 05:24:52 +0000 Jillian York http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/?p=1023 Last week, Global Voices Advocacy broke the news that Syrian users had been cut off from LinkedIn's services.  The business-oriented social networking site had stated in e-mails to several of its users that, “Under the User Agreement, LinkedIn Users warrant that they are not prohibited from receiving U.S. origin products, including services or software. As such, and as a matter of corporate policy, we do not allow member accounts or access to our site from Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, or Syria.”

LinkedIn realized its error following the publication of the piece on Advox (and subsequent pieces on Huffington Post and Foreign Policy's net.effect).  Twitter users, outraged by LinkedIn's decision to cut off Syrian users, re-tweeted links to the aforementioned articles, resulting in the issue grabbing the attention of LinkedIn staffer “kluo,” who quickly pointed out that the deletion of user accounts was a human error.

I contacted Kay as requested, and was quickly issued this statement:

“Some changes made to our site recently resulted in Syrian users being unable to access LinkedIn.  In looking into this matter, it has come to our attention that human error led to over compliance with respect to export controls.  This issue is being addressed tonight and service to our Syrian users should be restored shortly.”

Syrian LinkedIn users should soon be able to access their accounts once again.

Herdict is a portmanteau of ‘herd’ and ‘verdict.’ Using Herdict Web, anyone anywhere can report websites as accessible or inaccessible. Herdict Web aggregates reports in real time, permitting participants to see if inaccessibility is a shared problem, giving them a better sense of potential reasons for why a site is inaccessible. Trends can be viewed over time, by site and by country.

The project’s mascot — a sheep — demonstrates “the verdict of the herd” in a short video:

Herdict Web is the brainchild of Professor Jonathan Zittrain (The Future of the Internet: And How to Stop It) and is part of The Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

For more about Herdict Web:

• Visit the Herdict About Us page
• Sign up for email updates and announcements, including translations of Herdict Web into other languages
• Check out the Herdict blog
• Watch and listen to Jonathan Zittrain discussing Herdict Web

I hope you will join me and my colleagues in celebrating the launch of Herdict Web!

Silly Bahraini Girl posted earlier this week about a petition urging supporters of a free Internet to oppose Internet censorship in Bahrain. She wrote:

I'm really curious to know why only 420 people have signed this petition against Internet censorship in Bahrain.

Does this mean that the remainder of the population is in agreement with the draconian law which bans and blocks and censors access to information without a court order - at the whim of some little child who can rest his behind on a chair and tell us what we can and cannot access online?

Are they fine with the rest of the world laughing at our country at a day and age when you cannot block out the sun, cannot say no to free speech and cannot, under any circumstances, block access to information and censor the world wide web?

And while many of you say that such a petition is useless, in a democracy, which we were the last time I checked, petitions are a legitimate and civil means of protest.

By signing the petition, all you do really is clear your conscience and say no to another injustice being committed against you, in your name.

Arab-American blog KABOBfest also commented on Bahrain's new policies:

In light of the ongoing tensions between the Bahraini government and the disenfranchised Shia majority, the government has decided to take the highroad. And by highroad I mean, increasing internet censorship. It looks like Bahrain is working hard to join the 15 “enemies of the internet“. You know you are doin' something right when you get to join with the likes of Syria, Zimbabwe and Belarus!!

The OpenNet Initiative, a global group which studies Internet filtering, remarked on Bahrain's filtering strategy:

The following message appears when users try to access a blocked website: “Site Blocked: This website has been blocked by the order of the Ministry of Culture and Information based on Article 19 of decree Law No. 47, 2002 regarding the organisation of the press, printing and publishing in the Kingdom of Bahrain, due to the publication of prohibited content on the aforementioned site.”

There also two Facebook groups set up to combat filtering in Bahrain.

An example of a Qatar blockpage

A member of community site Qatar Living posted earlier this week that Qatar is experiencing a rise in Internet filtering as well:

Last night i was surfing the net and it was 11:20 as i was loged in on many other sites including TAGGED.When i refresh the page to update it i was shocked that it become ban by QTEL suddenly.No idea this BAN is for longtime or a short time or maybe forever as i heard this website [www.tagged.com] is banned in many countries in the world…

One commenter on the post noted that Internet Service Provider (ISP) QTel had remarked on the specific block:

Qtel Update on Community Internet Safety Policy

Decision to Block Specific Social Networking Site in Line with Culture of Qatar and Expectations of Customers

Qtel today provided an update on its Community Internet Safety Policy, following the decision over the weekend to block a specific social networking site within Qatar.

In its role as a licensed Internet Service Provider (ISP) and in response to customer requests, Qtel has a clear policy that aims to prevent damage to the values of the community from harmful material on websites. This policy has received strong support from the local community and ongoing market research shows that families and residents in Qatar overwhelmingly prefer there to be safeguards in place against illegal, pornographic and socially-harmful material.

It is notable that both Bahrain and Qatar allow Internet users to request sites to be unblocked. In Bahrain, one can utilize a web form, whereas QTel (Qatar's only ISP at the moment) prefers to receive e-mail (help-at-isp.qa).

This is not the first time Oktar has been involved in such litigation. In April 2007, Oktar successfully filed a defamation complaint against Turkish online news site Eksi sozluk. Oktar filed the complaint because of comments that users of Eksi sozluk had posted about him; a similar site, Superpoligon, was also blocked. Access to Eksi sozluk was restored shortly after the complaints were filed, and the offending remarks removed by the site's administrator.

Less than four months later, Oktar appealed to Wordpress.com to remove a number of blogs which he deemed slanderous. Following an unfavorable reaction from Wordpress, Oktar again filed a complaint with the Turkish judicial system, which in turn blocked Wordpress within Turkey. Oktar's complaint was based on a number of blogs created by rival Edip Yuksel, a prominent dissident. To date, Wordpress remains blocked, despite numerous campaigns to unblock the site. Turkish bloggers now use Wordprexy, a mirror site set up by activist group Great Firewall of Turkey, to read and post to Wordpress blogs. Less than six months later, Oktar filed a complaint against Google Groups, which led to that site being blocked within Turkey as well (Google.com remained accessible; only the subdomain groups.google.com was filtered). It is once again available.

Oktar's latest rancor is directed at Richard Dawkins, a British ethologist and evolutionary biologist. Following the release of Oktar's creationist book, Atlas of Creation, Dawkins wrote on his Web site:

“I am at a loss to reconcile the expensive and glossy production values of this book with the breathtaking inanity of the content.”

Oktar, who was involved in the attempt to ban Dawkins' book The God Delusion in Turkey, retaliated by filing a complaint in regards to Dawkins' Web site. A Turkish judicial court sided with Oktar, and ordered Turk Telecom to ban the site.

In each instance, the foreign press was quick to assume that the blockings were related to Turkey's rising Islamist party, the AKP. It is perhaps more alarming that politics had little to do with it. It is surprising that Oktar, considered a charlatan by the Turkish public, and having so recently run afoul of the law, carries so much weight in the Turkish judicial system.

In fact, Oktar carries neither more nor less weight than anyone else. According to a recent Reuters article, a law passed in May now allows the Telecommunications Directorate to close down websites based on complaints by individual users, thus enabling anyone with a complaint to get a site blocked. The problem therefore lies in the ease with which anyone can file such a complaint.

On Oktar's Web site, HarunYahya.com, there is a quote from the Qur'an: “Truth has come and falsehood has vanished. Falsehood is always bound to vanish.” If Dawkins' work is the falsehood Oktar is referencing, then indeed he has succeeded in making it “vanish”…if only from the Turkish Internet.

Posted on ONI Blog

And yet, journalists are all too frequently fined or arrested, and yesterday a blogger, Mohammed Raji, joined their ranks. The blogger was arrested yesterday afternoon for insulting the king, and was immediately tried and sentenced to two years in prison and a fine of MAD 5,000 (about $625). The Moroccan blogosphere, lively as ever, has rallied around Raji.

A Moro in America, whose blog was among the first to report the story, offers a critique of Morocco's hypocritical handling of the press and bloggers:

Apparently the Moroccan Internet Police, which apparently is doing a great job following up on the Moroccan blogosphere, is not fully aware of the scale of media echo arresting a blogger can generate. That’s either because they work for their superiors who belong to the pen-and-paper era, and still see the Internet as nothing but a virtual world, or they are blinded by their fervor and ambition to receive reward for making such “a big bust.”
They don’t realize that they unintentionally propel Morocco to the list of top violators of freedom of speech on the net.
Even worse, it reveals a pattern of mishandling of the issue of Moroccans expressing their opinions online. It started with blocking access to video-sharing website YouTube and Google Earth, the arrest of the so-called fake Facebook prince, Fuad Mourtada, and now with sentencing Blogger Raji to two years in prison. Most probably this case will end with the same scenario as it did with Fuad Mourtada. The police made the arrest. The news made it all over the world, tarnishing the image of modern Morocco in full democratic transition, and then the suspect gets a royal pardon on the Eid’s eve. It’s called self-inflicted negative publicity that Morocco ends up getting from such high-profile cases.
The Moroccan judiciary and the Internet Police still involve Moroccan in big profile arrests of opinion.

Author and blogger Laila Lalami makes a necessary point:

The arrest marks the first time anyone has been arrested for a blog post in Morocco, and, given the Moroccan government’s touchiness, I can guarantee it is not the last time. But I would like to make one small point: Erraji’s criticism is quite mild compared with what one can read in such French-language Moroccan magazines as Tel Quel or Le Journal. But these publications enjoy the support of many international groups (such as Reporters Without Borders) and so the government often has to think twice before arresting one of their journalists or editors. But because Erraji writes in Arabic, and because he writes for Hespress, a website whose quality is quite questionable (it’s very populist and sometimes inaccurate), and because he is not part of the connected elite, his right to freedom of expression has simply been denied and his case has been even more bungled than usual.

A website has been set up to defend Erraji: Help Erraji. I wish there was also a website to help Morocco get a clue on press freedom.

Citoyen Hmida, remarking on the case [fr], says:

Où est le mal dans tout celà?

Dans l'introduction du billet, peut-être qui reprendrait une anecdote dont un quotidien aurait déjà fait l'écho!

Y a-t-il matière à délit? Y a-t-il matière à action publique?

Y a-t-il matière à remettre en cause un équilibre fragile entre la liberté de parole et la volonté de certaines institutions de défendre la monarchie que personne ne remet en cause?

Espérons que toute cette histoire n'est qu'un vaste malentendu!

Au delà de la personne de Mohamed Erraji et des idées qu'il peut exprimer, le MAROC n'a pas besoin d'une nouvelle fausse affaire.

Des problèmes bien plus sérieux nous attendent….

Where is the harm in all this?

In the introduction to the article, maybe he should have incorporated an anecdote which a newspaper has already repeated!

Can the crime be substantiated? Is there cause to take public action?

Is it justified to challenge a delicate balance between freedom of speech and the desire of certain institutions to defend the monarchy that nobody questions?

Let us hope that this whole story is a vast misunderstanding!

Beyond Mohamed Erraji and the ideas he has expressed, MOROCCO did not need a new trumped up case.

Far more serious problems lie ahead….

Finally, Ibn Kafka has compiled a comprehensive list [fr] of bloggers discussing Raji's case, as well as links to various articles about Morocco's press freedom (or lack thereof). He also notes that, technically, Raji got off easy:

…On notera cependant que Mohammed Erraji a bénéficié de la mansuétude légendaire de la justice marocaine, puisqu'il n'a été condamné qu'à deux années d'emprisonnement, alors que le minimum encouru pour cette infraction est trois ans et le maximum cinq ans. Cela signifie en théorie - en pratique les juges font ce qu'il leur chante - que des circonstances atténuantes lui ont été accordées - lesquelles?

…It should be noted, however, that Mohammed Erraji has benefited from the legendary leniency of Moroccan justice, and has since been sentenced to two years' imprisonment, whereas the minimum incurred for this offense is three years, maximum five years. This means that in theory (in practice, judges practice what they preach), extenuating circumstances were taken into account - but which ones?

This morning, it was reported by the electronic news site Hespress [ar] that blogger Mohammed Raji was arrested in his home in Agadir.  An article that Raji had posted on Hespress [ar] is said to be the source of the conflict, though neither that fact nor Raji's arrest have been confirmed outside of the blogosphere.

Morocco's often-critized press law prohibits criticizing of the monarchy; In Raji's article, which has been translated here by Amira al Hussaini, he claims that the King's charity toward his people encourages them to remain helpless rather than work hard.  His concluding paragraph reads:

وعندما يرى ولي العهد الصغير الذي سيتولى الحكم في يوم من الأيام كيف أن والده يوزع الهبات والاكراميات والكريمات على الناس بمجرد سماع كلمة إطراء أو مدح ، فلا شك أنه سيتصرف بنفس “المنطق” عندما يحكم ، لذلك فما علينا سوى أن نؤجل أحلامنا بمغرب المساواة وتكافؤ الفرص لغاية حكم الملك محمد السابع الذي سيأتي بعد الحسن الثالث اللي هو ولي العهد حاليا!

A Moroccan About the World Around Him explains the context of the article, saying:

Mohamed’s article, written in Arabic and titled “The King Indulges His Subjects’ dependency,” dealt with the concept of what Moroccans colloquially call “GRIMA”, from the French word “agrément” meaning “an administrative authorization.” Giving ”administrative authorizations” has been a long standing royal tradition in Morocco. Needless to say, such authorizations allow the beneficiary to bypass all set administrative procedures; they discredit all laws and regulations designed to regulate such procedures. But the concept is so ingrained in the Moroccan psyche that you often here Moroccans from all walks of life pray: “May Allah give us a “GRIMA” from Sidna.”

Other bloggers, including A Moroccan in Washington, D.C., zalamite, and Larbi [fr] have covered the story as well.

Hespress has reported that Raji has already been given an expedited hearing and judgement and was sentenced to 2 years in jail as well as fined MAD 5,000 (USD $625). Larbi explains:

Dans un jugement expéditif digne des pays les plus totalitaires au monde, le Tribunal d’Agadir a condamné ce lundi le bloggeur marocain Mohamed Erraji à deux ans de prison ferme et 5000 Dhs d’amendes pour « manquement au respect dû au roi ».

A petition for Mohammed Raji's freedom has already been posted here and a Facebook group has been created.

I came from journalism, Ethan from non-profits; we both shared concern about the media and global attention flows. I saw the international English-language media focusing a lot of attention on certain people and places, and less attention on other voices and places. Ethan was doing a lot of research on media attention patterns. We were studying the blogosphere and wanted to talk about all the people around the world who were starting to blog.

Following the introductions, Session 1: “Toward a Global Anti-censorship Network,” started up, with Helmi Noman moderating. Jillian York and Renata Avila liveblogged the session using CoveritLive. Internet filtering, self-censorship, and related issues in Egypt, Morocco, Belarus, Japan, and Pakistan were discussed during this session, which featured Sami Ben Gharbia, Chris Salzberg, Andrei Abozau, Ethan Zuckerman, Awab Alvi, and Alaa Abdel Fatah.

Session 2 was liveblogged by Juliana Rotich. Mary Joyce moderated; Ory Okolloh of Kenya, Wael Abbas of Egypt, Amine of Morocco, Oiwan Lam of hong Kong, Au Wai “Alex” Pang of Singapore, and Hamid Tehrani of Iran spoke on the subject “Citizen Media and Online Free Speech.” Issues broached during the discussion were the use of twitter, proxies and SMS to get around internet filtering and censorship. Each panelist shared stories of recent events from their countries.

Jillian York liveblogged Session 3, entitled “Living with Censorship.” Awab Alvi of Don't Block the Blog moderated, whilst Helmi Noman, CJ Hinke, Andrew Heavens, Rezwan, Yazan Badran, and John Kennedy were panelists. Each panelist discussed what it's like to live with censorship, and each had a different perspective on the issue.

Session 4, liveblogged by Juliana Rotich, brought special guests, whom moderator Ethan Zuckerman said we are very lucky to have at the Summit, as they are in high demand as speakers! Roger Dingledine of Tor, Nart Villeneuve (Citizen Lab), Isaac Mao (Digital Nomads Project), Robert Guerra (Privaterra), and Danny O'Brien (Electronic Frontier Foundation) spoke. Danny O'Brien discussed selecting a circumvention tool:

What criteria should you look for when choosing circumvention & anonymizing tools? This is important because some tools that you can use now may not be safe to use in future. Google may be good now, but as it continues to grow, will it remain so?

The features you want…
-You want a tool that is well funded.

Juliana notes that O'Brien recommends against commercial products.

The day wrapped up with Session 5, liveblogged by Rebecca Wanjiku and moderated by Xiao Qiang. Panelists were Clothilde Le Coz (RSF), Elijah Zarwan (HRW), Nasser Weddady (HAMSA), Stephanie Hankey (Tactical Tech), and Antony Loewenstein (Amnesty International Australia's campaign Uncensor).

Rebecca MacKinnon spoke at the very end of the panel, discussing censorship as a legal, political and social program:

Without the social layer on top of the technical and legal solutions, a lot of these problems are going to be difficult to solve. I was really struck by stories about social demoralization and isolation that some bloggers feel.

She added that we as citizens need to work together to get past censorship and focus on what we can do, rather than what we can’t. To conclude, she also mentioned how censorship can have a landslide effect, for example: Japan’s freedom of speech/anti-pornography censorship stance could be used as an example by China to subdue its activists and dissenters.

Day 2 promises to be just as incredible, with Rising Voices, GV Lingua, and other topics.