Author Archive for Sami Ben Gharbia Author RSS

About Sami Ben Gharbia

175 posts · joined 2008-04-22

My personal blog is at [fikra] فكرة (which means idea in Arabic). I'm also the co-founder of nawaat.org (which means the core in Arabic), a Tunisian collective blog about news and politics. I'm also the Advocacy Director at Global Voices.

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Recent Posts

Video Interview With Gaurav Mishra About Digital Activism and Social Media in India

In this video I interviewed, Gaurav Mishra, our colleague at Global Voices and the 2008-09 Yahoo! Fellow in International Values, Communications, Technology, and Global Internet at Georgetown University, about the role of social media and digital activism in India. From the right-wing Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena's Orkut Campaign to the more liberal Pink Chaddi Facebook Campaign, Gaurav explores in this interview how problems of religious conflicts are being reflected online, in a country where caste, class and religious divides remain very strong despite the secular nature of the state.

Tunisia: First Woman to Get Six Years Prison For Her Online Activities

On Thursday 14 May 2009, the 5th Criminal Chamber of the Court of First Instance in Tunis convicted the 22-year old ICT Student, Mariam Zouaghi, who was in custody, on separate terrorist-related charges, and sentenced her to six years in prison. Mariam Zouaghi is the first Tunisian woman to be convicted under The Anti-Terrorism Act of 10 December 2003.

Tunisia: Blogger's Home Raided, Laptop and CDs Robbed

The house of the Tunisian journalist and blogger Zied el-Heni has been raided last night (April 10, 2009). In a blog post published today, Zied wrote that his laptop and CDs which contain all his work have been robbed: "I am sorry to inform you that my house has been raided and robbed on April 10, 2009. They stole my laptop and CDs which contain the efforts of my work day and night...

Interview with Robert Guerra about the Freedom on the Net Index

A new report on Internet freedom was launched by Freedom House, an organization which monitors freedom around the world. The "Freedom on the Net" study surveyed 15 countries on the basis of two key components: access to Web and mobile technology and the free flow of information through it. The report covered events that took place in the years 2007 and 2008, identifying new emerging threats to Internet freedom.

Sudan: Activist arrested for his online support to ICC Arrest Warrant for Omar al-Bashir

On the night of March 5th, 2009, Sudanese security forces had carried out a raid on the house of internet activist and lawyer Abdel Hakim Abdel Rahman Nasr only few hours after he expressed his support to the ICC Arrest Warrant for President Omar al-Bashir on the online International Forum for Nubia of which he was a moderator.

Mauritania: Online Journalist Arrested, News Website Blocked and Journalists Sit-in Attacked

Update: 18 March 2009- Abbass Ould Brahim was released after being held for three days, and the Taqadoumy website was allowed to reopen 24 hours after the Nouakchott prosecutor’s office ordered its closure - Abbass Ould Braham, a Mauritanian online journalist was arrested this past Monday, 16 March 2009, for an article he published on Taqadoumy website. News of his arrest was reported by Taqadoumy.com and echoed by number of Mauritanian websites. Abbass's article "Deep into Mauritania: A Cross-Section of the new Mauritanian Regime" (in arabic) deals with the August 6 coup d'état, the Junta and the Mauritanian political system.

Anonymous Blogging with Wordpress & Tor Updated!

I’m pleased to announce that the third update to the Anonymous Blogging guide with Wordpress & Tor is now available online! This update introduces the Tor Browser Bundle, an open source version of a portable browser developed by Tor Project, that lets you use Tor with zero install. Tor Browser is a great pre-configured Tor bundle with self contained Mozilla Firefox browser for USB drives or any other portable media (SD Card, Hard Drives, Compact Flash Card).