Tarek, at Not Gr33n Data, writes:

It’s getting more and more fishy everyday, the Newspapers are attacking what they call “The Dark World of the Internet”, you may read Al-Ahram Newspaper’s article here [Ar]. They are blaming the Egyptian people because they use the internet to … ehm … spread rumours, call for strikes, and post videos that may harm the Egyptian National Security!

You know what, I am getting more and more confident now, that the Government’s next move will be filtering the Internet. I already had similar suspicions a long while ago, but now I am really afraid that they may start filtering the Internet here in Egypt very soon, they may block sites such as Facebook, because what’s said that the April 6th General Strike was organized there. They may also block YouTube, and who knows what will they block next.

Seems that the Great Firewall of China is on its way to Egypt.

Mostafa Hussein [Ar], also from Egypt, is equally infuriated with the attack on online activists. He uses the same style the article was written in to discredit the credibility of newspapers and writes:

أكاذيب مفضوحة‏,‏ وألفاظ مطاطة‏,‏ وسب وقذف بلا حسيب ولا رقيب‏,‏ وأخبار كاذبة‏,‏ ودعوات للتشهير‏,‏ ومحاولات للوقيعة بين أبناء الشعب الواحد‏.‏ هذه هي الصورة السوداء للصحافة الرسمية في مصر حاليا للأسف الشديد‏,‏ والتي رسم سوادها قلة من السياسيين‏,‏ وإن كان هذا السواد يغطي حاليا علي أغلبية استخدامات هذه الوسيلة الإعلامية التي يفترض أنها أكثر عراقه ونظافة من هذا المستوي إلي الدرجة التي بات الأمر معها يستدعي وقفة من القراء ضد هذه الإساءات والانتهاكات الصارخة قبل المطالبة بتدخل الجهات الشعبية لإعادة التوازن إلي هذه المنطقة الخطرة علي المجتمع وعقلة واستقراره وحريته‏!‏
وعلي الرغم من أن مصر تفخر بأنها تملك أكبر عدد من قراء الصحف في المنطقة العربية‏,‏ فإنها عانت في الفترة الأخيرة إساءة استخدام السلطة لهذه الوسيلة‏,‏ حيث باتت جرائد الحكومية الشهيرة مثل الأهرام و الأخبار ساحة مناسبة يستغلها ضعاف النفوس للتضليل والكذب‏,‏ ولتبادل عبارات السب والقذف والتعليقات المبتذلة التي تسيء إلي مصر بالدرجة الأولي‏,‏ بل وتسيء إلي هذه الوسيلة المطبوعة الراقية التي يجيد الغرب المتحضر استخدامها بما ينفع مجتمعه‏,‏ وانتشرت حملات وهمية تكالب علي إطلاقها علي الصحف بعض السياسين المصريين المندفعين بحثا عن المال والكرسي‏,‏ وربما من المستترين خلف أسماء مستعارة أو وهمية‏,‏ بعضها يتضمن دعاوي تحريضية علي التخلف أو علي نشر الأكاذيب‏.‏

Easily exposed lies, flowery language, insults and slander, unfounded news, libel and attempts to create a rift between the citizens of one nation. This is the black picture of our Egyptian official Press unfortunately. Its blackness was painted by a few politicians, even though this darkness now covers most of the uses of this mass media which is supposed to be clean and rich. It has now become imperative for readers to take a stance to redress the imbalance in this dangerous medium on society, its stability and freedom!

Although Egypt prides itself with having the largest number of newspaper readers in the Arab world, it has recently suffered from abuse at the hands of the authorities of this medium. Famous government-run papers like Al Ahram and Al Akhbar have now become the suitable forum for those who mislead and lie, as well as for the exchange of slander and insults which harm Egypt particularly and this publication in general, while the civilised West continues to utilise this medium in a manner which benefits their society. Imaginary campaigns against newspapers have also been launched by some Egyptian politicians in search of money and power. They may perhaps be those hiding behind fake names - and who rally for spreading messages which encourage backwardness and spreading lies.

We, three political detainees, address the letter below to the Judges’ Club and its head Zakareya Abdel Aziz from the Borg el-Arab Prison in Alexandria…

Dear Sir,

A week has passed on our hunger strike and we are extremely weak. We are appealing to you as the last and only resort for all who have suffered injustice in Egypt.

We would like in the beginning to correct certain information which has reached the press about our (the three of us) having been transferred to the prison hospital as a result of our hunger strike.

The truth is that we are still in prison after the administration refused to call an ambulance to take us to hospital, and as a result of the inability of Karim el-Beheiry and Tareq Amin to stand on their feet - as a result of their extreme weakness. Instead, a “nurse” was summoned to examine Karim, whose condition has seriously deteriorated.

We would like to know the reason why we remain in detention. We will continue the hunger strike until we either die or receive this information.

We were tortured in the state security headquarters in Mahalla on the 6th, 7th and 8th April. Officers tortured Karim using electricity while Tareq Amin and Kamal el-Fayyoumy were insulted verbally and physically assaulted. We then spent eleven days in Borg el-Arab prison in a cell with individuals with criminal convictions. When the Tanta court ordered that we be released we were held for four days in the El-Salam police station [noqtat shorta] situated between Mahalla and Tanta before we were taken to Borg el-Arab prison were we began our hunger strike.

From our detention cell, we call on you and all political currents to take action and apply pressure in order to secure the release of all those detained in connection with the events of Mahalla.
Signed
Kamal El-Fayyoumy, Tareq Amin, Karim El-Beheiry
Detained workers from Mahalla
Borg el-Arab Prison
Wing 22, Cell 5

During the unrest, on April 6 and 7, Egyptian bloggers worked round the clock telling the world about the workers’ revolt that shook their country, as thousands rioted at a textile mill in Al Mahalla. They were also among the first casualties of the unrest, which left some killed, scores injured and an undetermined number of activists, organisers and mere spectators behind bars. Their coverage came in the form of blog posts, YouTube videos, Twitter feeds, Flickr shots, Facebook messages and all other online tools they could get their hands on.

The saga seems to continue, as some activists are still detained, six weeks after their arrest, prompting calls from their colleagues for their immediate release. Others, allegedly harassed, physically abused and later released by the police, continue to use online tools to tell the world their story.

This is one of many images of the back of Egyptian Facebook user Ahmed Maher, taken by award winning blogger Wael Abbas and posted here, under the title: The Newest Egyptian Method to Find Out Your Facebook’s Account Password.

أحمد ماهر هو المؤسس الحقيقي لجروب الإضراب على الفيس بوك وليست إسراء عبد الفتاح كما زعموا والسبب في وجود إسمها وحدها على الجروب الآن هو أن فيس بوك أوقفت حساب أحمد ماهر لأنه كان يرسل عدد ضخم من الرسائل يوميا ليضم أعضاء للجروب وكان هذا المجهود هو سبب إنضمام أكثر من سبعون ألف عضو للجروب فإعتبره سبامر واوقفوا حسابه بينما كان كل دور إسراء هو المساعدة في الإدارة وحذف التعليقات المسيئة فقط لكن بعض وسائل الإعلام كانت تبحث عن قصة شيقة وبالونة لنفخها ولم يكن همهم أبدا الدقة في المعلومة أو البحث عن الحقيقة والقصة السليمة مما أضر بالحركة الوطنية من اجل التغيير ككل وبمصداقية نشطاء الإنترنت خصوصا وهو أمر لا يمكن التسامح ف

Ahmed Maher is the real founder of the Strike’s Facebook Group and not Esraa Abdulfattah as everyone assumed. The reason why her name alone appears on the group until now is because Facebook suspended Ahmed Maher’s account because he used to send huge numbers of messages daily for new members to join the group. It was as a result of this effort that more than 70,000 members joined. They considered him as a spammer and closed his account while Esraa’s role was to help in administrating the site and deleting derogatory comments only. Some media organisations, which were looking for an exciting story and a balloon to blow, were not concerned with the accuracy of the story or looking for the truth. This has negatively impacted the national movement for change overall and the credibility of cyberactivists, in particular and this is an issue we can’t forgive.

Elijah Zarwan tells us what happened to Maher:

I’ve just heard from a friend that Ahmed Maher, a 27-year-old engineer quoted in the Western press as a May 4 Facebook activist, is alleging that he was beaten in State Security custody. Details are still sketchy, but apparently State Security called him in for a “friendly” coffee earlier this week. When he didn’t go, my friend tells me, State Security took him from his home in the middle of the night, beat him, and released him with the warning that they were “just pulling his ear” this time, and that next time would be worse. He is reportedly in hospital now.

And Abbas posts the following video showing the extend of torture Maher has been subjected to:

In the video [Ar], Maher says how his clothes were ripped off by the police and then shows us scars on his back which he says were caused by policemen beating him on his back with their bare hands.

Blogger Hossam el Hamalawy links to a newspaper report on what happened to the Facebook user and how he was arrested and tortured by police here.

Hamalawy also draws our attention to the plight of blogger and activist Kareem Al Beheiri, who has been behind bars since April 7. He writes:

In an interview with el-Badeel, released Karama Party activist Ahmad Amin Ahmad Eid said that:

Kareem el-Beheiri was tortured in Mahalla’s State Security Police office for more than 18 hours. He told me his torturer was listening to the Quran while torturing him. I saw in Mahalla’s 2nd Police Station children no more than 13 years old, whose eyes and bodies were injured by rubber bullets. They said police kidnapped them from the hospital where they were receiving treatment and accused them of participating in the strike.

Hamalawy also reports that Mohamed Maree, a translator who was arrested along with American photojournalist James Buck, while interviewing the families of those arrested in Mahalla, has been tortured. While Buck was released and asked to leave the country, Maree continues to languish in prison, despite an outcry from activists for his release. Hamalawy writes:

The latest information we have on Mohamed was by rights lawyers who visited Bourg el-Arab Prison on Saturday:

We managed to visit Bourg el-Arab Prison today. It turned out that translator Mohamed Saleh Maree is detained as a ‘criminal’ after he was detained in the company of US journalist James Buck. The latter was released by the police in Mahalla after pressures from his embassy, but Mohamed Saleh was kept in custody despite a release order from the prosecutor. We couldn’t back then find out where he was kept. Today we visited him, and he mentioned he was tortured by beatings and electric shocks in Mahalla’s State Security office. Mohamed was also banned by the prison administration from taking his exam at the university.

Buck continue to fight for his colleague’s freedom and is spearheading a campaign to draw the world’s attention to his friend’s plight. He has also set up a petition on his blog calling for Maree’s release.

Many of Kefaya website visitors were surprised of their disability to browse the site during the call on for the past 4th of May Strike, whether through T-Data or “Link” company, while Link has pulled back blocking the site later, but T-Data that belongs to the Egyptian Government continued blocking the site until today, leaving the internet users unable to get access to it, to be a cheek irony, that the time when the website of the most important political movement in Egypt is blocked coincides with the hosting the largest telecommunication conference in Africa- Africa Telecoms Conference.

According to Global Voices Advocacy, Al Farhan was arrested on 10 December 2007 for unspecified “violation of non-security regulations.”

Saudi Arabia:

For Saudi Jeans, Al Farhan’s release was a good way to start his day. He writes:

I woke up around 5:30 this morning on the beeping of my iPhone which received a short message from the wife of my friend and fellow blogger Fouad al-Farhan telling me that Fouad has been released and that he is back home with his family now. That’s great news and this is just how I wanted to start my morning!

Al Farhan’s fellow blogger, Mashi 97 (Ar), from Saudi Arabia, received more than 140 congratulatory comments when he made this announcement:

قبل دقائق قليلة فقط

رجع المدون السعودي فؤاد أحمد الفرحان لمنزله بعد خروجه من السجن .

الحمدلله الحمدلله الحمدلله

A few minutes ago only
Saudi blogger Fouad Ahmed Al Farhan has returned home after being released from prison.
Thank Allah, Thank Allah, Thank Allah.

Another Saudi blogger Ibrahim (Ar) wants an explanation to why Al Farhan was arrested. He writes:

في الأمس كنا فرحين بالإفراج عن فؤاد الفرحان
ولازلنا فرحين
ولكن سؤالي .. ماذا بعد الإفراج عن فؤاد؟
أربعة أشهر قضاها الأخ فؤاد في سجن أو توقيف ( مانختلف ) تحت الإستجواب
وكان السبب في كل هذا هو ” تهمة غير أمنيه” و ” إختراق لبعض اللوائح ”
وأستغرب من هذه الكلمات الفضفاضه
أنا كمدون أحب أن أعرف ماهي اللوائح التي تم اختراقها , ليتم تفاديها
أو ماهي التهم الغير أمنيه ليتم تفاديها أيضاً
هذا في حال أنها تستحق هذا المسمى (اختراق للوائح) فكلنا يجب أن يعرف ماهي اللوائح المخترقه

Yesterday were were happy for Fouad Al Farhan’s release.
And we are still happy.
But my question is .. what after Fouad’s release?
He spent four months in prison or custody (we won’t differ on this), where he was interrogated.
The reason given was “a non-security related accusation” and “breaking some laws.”
I am surprised at those vague words.
As a blogger, I want to know what are the laws he has broken so that we don’t commit them and what are the non-security related offences, so that we can overcome them. In case they deserve to be labelled as “breaking laws,” we all need to know what are the laws which have been broken.

Rasheed Abou-Alsamh too has questions in his head and writes:

Fouad was arrested in Jeddah on Dec. 10, 2007, and was held in a detention center for for more than four months because of the various entries on his blog that called for less corruption and more accountability in Saudi Arabia.

Will he continue blogging now that he has been released? That is a question that only Fouad can answer. I’m sure we will find out soon enough. For now, Fouad probably just wants to forget his ordeal and bond with is family.

Egypt:

From Egypt, Al Anany is also excited about Al Farhan’s release and shares the following wish:

اليوم فرحة المدونين العرب وبالخصوص السعوديين منهم لا توصف بعد الإفراج اليوم عن المدون السعودي فؤاد الفرحان .. ومن هنا ، من سيناء نهنئ أنفسنا وكل من آزر فؤاد الفرحان بخروجه من السجن وعودته الي منزله ، ونتمنى من الله عز وجل أن يتم الإفراج عن كل المدونين العرب ، وعن مسعد أبو فجر ابن سيناء وصاحب مدونة ودنا نعيش

Today is a happy day for Arab bloggers, and in particular the Saudis, whose happiness cannot be measured after the release of Saudi blogger Fouad Al Farhan. From here, from Sinai, we congratulate ourselves and all those who stood by Fouad until his release from prison and his return home. We ask Allah for the release of all Arab bloggers, especially Musad Abu Fajr, the son of Sinai, who runs the blog, We Want to Live.

Still in Egypt, Zeinobia awaits the news of the release of another blogger - this time in Syria. She writes:

Congratulations for Fouad and his family.
Hopefully all the other bloggers detained in the Arab world will be free soon and return to other families especially Tarek from Syria.

Bahrain:

Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif is still scratching his head. He writes:

We don’t know the details of his release and what he had to give up or sign for the authorities to finally let him go, I suspect we will hear his stories quite soon - I hope.
In any case, I am very happy indeed for his release.
Welcome home Fouad!

Bahraini Esra’a wonders if Al Farhan will continue blogging after his release. She writes:

We are really happy to see him safe and free, however I wonder if he will continue blogging after what had happened. Let’s hope that he will never endure what he has gone through these past few months.

Sudan:

The Sudanese Thinker makes the following announcement:

Saudi blogger Fuad alFarhan has finally been released after spending 137 days in jail for simply speaking his mind politely and eloquently. Meanwhile, the Saudi government has no problem whatsoever allowing the shouts and rants of many preachers of death.

Lovely!

Meanwhile, The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (Ar) demands the lifting of the ban on Al Farhan’s blog in Saudi Arabia. It says:

من الجيد التراجع عن استمرار اعتقال فؤاد الفرحان ، ولكن رغم سعادتنا بالإفراج عنه ، فنحن ننتظر أن تعلن الحكومة السعودية بوضوح أسباب اعتقاله ، ومن كان صاحب قرار اعتقاله ، و أن يرفع الحجب عن مدونته فورا”.

It is good that Fouad Al Farhan is no longer arrested, but despite our happiness with his release, we are waiting for the Saudi government to announce clearly why he was arrested and who ordered his arrest. We also call for the immediate lift of the ban on his blog.

Banners from Egyptian Facebook groups calling for the May 4 Strike.

After little less than a month following the April 6 strike in support of the textile workers in Mahalla City, during which a number of prominent Egyptian bloggers and internet activists were arrested, preparations for the next round of a planned general strike to mark the 80th birthday of President Hosni Mubarak, on May 4, 2008, are currently spreading all over the blogosphere and the Internet. And like the preparation for the April 6 strike, the internet has a vital role to play in mobilizing for the upcoming protest. SMS, email, blogs, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter: almost all of these outlets are used by Egyptian Internet activists in their campaign the May 4 event. We’ve even seen a Facebookist Movement to Overthrow Mubarak being created. Another group entitled “We don’t want Muslim Brothers” is calling for the strike but without participation of the Muslim Brotherhood, who recently decided to join May 4 protest.

Logo of the Egyptian Facebook group “Facebookist Movement to Overthrow Mubarak“

This approach of politicising the internet is not taking place without concerns being raised not only by pro-government and state-run newspapers (who recently waged a campaign against web 2.0 services like Youtube, Blogger and Facebook used by online activists) but even by opponents of Mubarak’s regime and outspoken bloggers. And while the Al-Gomhuriya daily called for a “boycott [of] Youtube and Facebook websites” and the weekly Rose El-Youssef portrayed the former website as “a secret room aimed at running Egypt”, blogger Hossam el-Hamalawy, an outspoken Egyptian blogger, wrote, in a blog post titled “I do NOT endorse the May 4th General Strike Call” criticizing what he described as a call “coming from the cyberspace by bloggers, “Facebook activists” and the Islamist-leaning Labor Party whose leaders have declared themselves more or less as some “provisional govt” in cyber-exile”, that:

We, the Egyptian bloggers, have always prided ourselves on the fact that we have one foot on the ground and the other in the cyberspace… But this time, it seems some have thrown both their feet as well as brains in the cyberspace and are living some virtual reality, mistakenly believing (helped by the media sensationalist coverage of the “facebook activism“) that they are the ones behind the events in Mahalla…

Blogger and activist Nora Younis was kind enough to agree to this interview over email. Nora shares some of her ideas with us about the role of Internet in Egypt as a platform for political activism.

Sami Ben Gharbia: What was the role of internet in mobilizing Egyptian citizens to participate in the April 6 strike and do you believe that the kind of Facebook Group, with its 71,200 members, has an effect on the street?

Nora Younis: Internet was the main tool in mobilizing for the 6 April strike. It’s true a tiny fringe of Egyptians have access to Facebook but the 70,000+ members of the group acted as strike advocates in the society and took the debate from PC screens to taxis, workplaces, dinner tables and breadlines. This forced the topic on the independent main stream media. The second tool in mobilizing for the strike was SMS. People I have known for years with no relation to politics or public participation were circulating messages advocating the strike. The word “strike” has never been uttered and repeated that much in Egypt during my lifetime. However, we should not forget that what gave April 6 its weight was the labor movement uprising and their struggle for a dignified minimum wage. Internet alone, without the popular base, wouldn’t have led to the successful strike we witnessed April 6.

Sami: we’ve seen an anti-strike Facebook group formed to counter the pro-strike group and it seems that the political battle is taking place on blogs and on social networking websites. How do you describe this new development and do you believe that the Egyptian government or the ruling party is behind the aforementioned group?

Nora: Young members of the ruling party have initiated blogs and Facebook groups to polish the regime’s image and counter the call for dissent. Such pages are probably encouraged by party officials, because when it comes to content they lack the passion. Furthermore, they remain unable to attract members and visitors.

Sami: It seems that the Egyptian regime is trying to calm down the situation. During the last week many of the previously arrested activist and bloggers have been released such as Khaled Hamza Salam the editor-in chief of Ikhwanweb, and blogger Mohamed Sharkawy and Esraa Abdul Fattah. How do you assess the situation in Egypt at this stage?

Nora: The Egyptian regime took preemptive measures to abort the April 6 strike by arresting activists early morning from their homes, and taping their calls days before. After the day was over and with the rising riots in Mahalla measures were taken to contain and calm the situation, as a way to weaken the planned May 4 strike. A government delegation headed to Mahalla, met some 2000 textile workers, and promised bonuses and privileges. Government statements have alienated Mahalla workers from the riots. Popular bloggers-activists have been released. All seems to be in attempt to calm the situation before May 4 - the president’s 80th birthday.

Sami: The use of web tools has caused the arrest of some of those activists, but it also helped release the American student James Karl Buck who was arrested while photographing the 6 April demonstration. His Twittered message ‘ARRESTED‘ through his cell phone alerted the world about his arrest. Who do you believe is going to win this new kind of battle of information?

Nora: On April 5 the number of my Twitter update followers was 90. On April 6 it was 130, and today it is 180. Only because I was Twittering strike and detainees updates. James Buck gained wide support through his Twitter SMS. More people are joining the blogsphere, Facebook, and Twitter by the hour. I don’t think this could ever be reversed. There is a techie, passionate, frustrated generation now on the playground….and one could only expect more to come. In few years time there will be no need for registration of political parties. Like-minded people will organise and will be heard.

“Minor victories give us hope and the ability to continue, and this sentence restored to us confidence that our efforts in support of freedoms in Egypt are not lost in vain,” said Ahmed Seif Al-Islam Hamad, former director of Hisham Mubarak Law Center. “The right of citizens to a free Internet and a free flow of information is now guaranteed by the judiciary in Egypt,” said Gamal Eid, the Executive Director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information.

The young Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer is the laureate in the Cyber-dissident category. The 23-year-old was sentenced to four years in jail for criticism posted on his blog of President Hosni Mubarak and of the Islamist grip on the country’s universities.

On March 14th, 2007, Kareem has also been nominated for one of the 7th Annual Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards.