Mohamed told Add-Dostour daily newspaper that the state security officers insisted that he will not go out of his detention custody till he sign a paper saying he will never update his blog neither heis Facebook account , nevertheless dealing with humanitarian NGOs or journalists.

Refaat has being in jail since July, though the editor of the blog Matabbat was ordered to be realesed. The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information and Hisham Mubarak Law Center reported in a statement:

The state security apparatus had raided Mohamed Refaat’s home early in the morning on 21st of July 2008 in his absence, and seized his PC, and many of his books, and when Mohamed Refaat approached the officer “ Hisham Tawfik” in the morning in the state security offices, he shocked by the fabricated charges of “inciting to strike on the occasion of 23rd July”, he was then referred to the state security prosecution office in the case no. 1143 for the year 2008.

Mohamed Refaat’s blog did not include any thing about this alleged strike. The Egyptian detained blogger used to write hid dairy , and write postings about love, life in Cairo and some personal stuff. Refaat was accused of “offending the state institutions, destabilizing the public security, and inciting for demonstrations and strikes via internet” and these charges need no evidence.

The Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) has since called on the police to take action against the blogger for her racist comments. Hindraf’s Penang coordinator, MN Anbalgan, and information chief, S Vadi Velan, lodged a police report in Butterworth against the blogger’s posting. Anbalgan was reported to have said:

Sammy’s racist remarks were totally uncalled, unacceptable and unbecoming of a true Malaysian… Her posting insults Indians, embarrass her own community and reflects badly on the polarisation of Malaysian society.

Blogger Sammy has since removed her racist postings, and wrote what appears to be an apology on her blog:

Yes yes i am racist, but not all times. It doesn’t help the fact that most of the phone snatchers i heard are Indians. Or Malay or Indons…

… Sorry if I offended any Indians. You should know that if you’re one of the good, educated ones then you shouldn’t be disturbed by what I say.

Malaysiakini, Malaysia’s leading online news portal, managed to get a copy of her original posting, which was reported to have included comments like:

I hate Indians. It’s bad enough they are famous for being drunk and rude (most of them anyway). Now they carry the reputation of being stealer, robbers, rapist, idiots, morons, drunkard bastards and list goes on…

I am not trying to be racist but it always Indian. It’s Indian fault. I don’t care if I am sued for racism.

Published reports of racism and comments sensitive to religion have made headlines this year, with consequences differing from situation to situation. Politician Datuk Ahmad Ismail was reported to have made racist remarks during the lead-up of the recent by-elections. He was suspended from his political party for three years, while the reporter who had reported his remarks, Tan Hoon Cheng, was detained without trial under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for 18 hours. The newspaper for which Tan reported, Sin Chew Daily, was given a show cause letter. On the other hand, Raja Petra Kamarudding (RPK), is said to be in detention under the (ISA) because his writings ‘ridiculed Islam’.

While some of these - like Sammy who herself admits she’s a racist at times -are genuine cases of racism, others have been used by the authority to curb dissenting voices. The concern on racial polarisation and anger on incidences of racism has caused the government to moot a Race Relations Act.

Butterworth police was reported to have said that the case would be investigated with the Bukit Aman national headquarters, since the alleged posting was made in the capital. It is unclear what charges will be filed against Sammy, if any, although her remarks appear to have a seditious tendency under Malaysian law.

[Post script: since this original posting, Sammy has unconditionally apologised on her blog. Hindraf was reported to have accepted her apology. There is no word on whether any investigations will continue].

But some tests carried out from Tunisia by some Tunisian activists and bloggers have shown that despite restoring access to Youtube, a number of specific youtube videos and pages still remain blocked such as the youtube page of the collective bog nawaat as displayed in the following screenshot:

On September 3rd, 2008, the ban on the social networking website Facebook, that lasted for two weeks, has been lifted after a massive protest by Tunisian Netizens.

News about online censorship in Tunisia is now widespread on the net and this especially after the recent ban on the social networking website Facebook. I was in the United States when I heard about the censorship of facebook in my country and I had been really chocked by this piece of sad news. Indeed, Facebook is used by thousands of Tunisians for different goals and especially for work and business and even one of the two communication operators in Tunisia has launched an advertising campaign in it. As to me Facebook has allowed me to keep in touch with my friends worldwide, to meet childhood friends that I have lost for years and years, to communicate with my students and supervisors, and to know about different cultural, social, and sportive activities in Tunisia and abroad. Bad news succeeded one another, two days later I heard about the censorship of the blog I co-write with my boyfriend. Again I was chocked and spent the whole night looking for a definition for censorship to find some convincing reasons explaining this practice and I came out with the following results:

According to Wikipedia, Censorship is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable, harmful or sensitive, as determined by a censor. The rationale for censorship is different for various types of data censored.
It can be moral (pornography), military (the process of keeping military intelligence and tactics away especially from espionage), political (governments holding back secret information from their citizens. The logic is to prevent the free expression needed to rebel), religious (the means by which any material objectionable to a certain faith is removed), and finally corporate (the process by which editors in corporate media outlets intervene to halt the publishing of information that portrays their business or business partners in a negative light).

I also found out that many countries are exercising control over the internet and that few governments are open about informing their citizens about internet controls. There is no place you can get an answer as a citizen from your state about how they are filtering and what is being filtered. Filtering and censorship happen in the shadows and that is how I realized that I am not going to find an answer to my questions. We, my boyfriend and I, just reopened the blog and went ahead with writing.

On Wednesday 17th September 2008 I discovered that the blog is censored again. The first censorship occurred in August 21st, so less than a month ago. I again tried to find a logical reason for this censorship and I again spent the night reading and re-reading the different posts of the blog in the hope of finding an answer but in vain. Some bloggers with whom I had discussions explained to me that it should be due to my post about the death of a Tunisian man shot by the Tunisia police for the mere reason of taking part in a demonstration. Again we just re-opened the blog and went ahead with writing. But less than 12 hours after, the blog is censored again and for no reason again.

My blog is not the only blog censored in Tunisia the list is too long .Hardly does the sun rises without learning about the censorship of a blog here is: Astrubal, Mochageb, enne9ed, Samsoum, For Gafsa, Against Censorship, Free word, Free Race, etc . Pardon me if I cannot mention all the censored blogs; the list is so long that I cannot retain all of them. All have undergone a case of censorship and now re -censorship. But the problem does not stop at censorship it reaches arrests, punishment, and persecution of internet users. Cases include: the Tunisian journalist and blogger Slim Boukhdhir and the Online writer Mohamed Abbou. And again the list is not complete.

The Kuwait Ministry of Communications first issued an order to local ISPs denying access to Youtube due to video content considered offensive to Muslims and Islam. Blogger later reported that the ban was lifted after YouTube removed the ‘offensive’ video.

About the original ban, Ansam writes:

I think this is the dumbest decision ever made when it comes to blocking offensive sites… whats next? Blogs!!! Limewire!!!

Man this is ridiculous… no, no, no… its is ridiculously sad! Who comes up with such decisions! Isnt youtube also full of videos supporting Islam, Muslims, and Arabs! Why take the negative part?!?! Was it because of the Quranic verses read in melodic background? The video was removed for God’s sake? You only need to report offensive videos and your voice will sure be heard!

I am hating this SO MUCH! Ughhhhhhhhh!

And when the ban was not implemented, Ansam exclaimed:

They canceled! Its not blocked… YAY

Another Kuwaiti blogger, Loft965, notes:

It’s the end of the world as we know it: Kuwait might block YouTube.

Bashar too is livid at the decision, suggesting that the government bans other sites while it is at it. His suggestions include:

If they still wanna move forward, despite that YouTube did really act upon the video, listned to people complains, and there isn’t really any such videos right now, then I have a list of suggestions to push our country furter forward, carefully selected from Alexa top 100 sites in Kuwait:

 

 

1. Google, Yahoo, and MSN Search: The head of search to all evil things. Block them.
2. Facebook: There are some athiest and anti-Islamic groups. Don’t try to reach them, educate them, or show your thoughts. Just leave the whole site.
3. Maktoob.com: Arabic online forums, e-marriage could be abused for dating, movies, horoscopes. This is not Islamic is it?
4. Kooora.com: All about soccer, mostly European soccer where teams show sponsored Beer and wine ads on their Shirts.
5. RapidShare: Sharing is not monitored, you can’t tell what your people are sharing. And someone might be secretly sharing offensive content. There must be some of it. Or at least, just to be on the safe side
6. Travian.ae: Obiously, why should you let your people play as Romanian soldiers in an online game, helping the Romanian empire expand it’s grounds online, when they could be fighting as Islamic ones.
7. Hi5: Friendship site.

Falantan brings news of the order to ban YouTube being reconsidered at higher levels. He writes:

Thanks to you all and the amazing response, it seems the Ministry people are realizing their blunder [...]And now I got confirmation that the Minister himself has convened with his department heads and rescinded the order.
Thank you al-Jarida and thank you bloggers of Kuwait :)

Writing in Arabic, Jandeef argues:

Jordanian Moey, who visits Kuwait regularly, urges the authorities:

Why block the website? I’m not sure if any of you remember, they blocked anything +18 in Yahoo groups 2 years back, and YouTube has an option that allows users to report offensive content.

Please don’t go nuts like Syria and block YouTube and Facebook?

And Frankom rants:

Yemen Hurr website announced yesterday in a press release that its founder and editor-in-chief Loui Al-Moayed has been released from prison yesterday after about more than 70 days in detention. In a press release, the website thanked all those organizations and advocates who fought hard for his release from a detention that was and remains unjustified.

Posted on freeyemenportal.org

The Kuwait Ministry of Communications has issued an order to local ISPs denying access to Youtube due to video content considered offensive to Muslims and Islam. Here is a translation by Reuters:

Since the website displays the Koran in the form of songs sung with the oud (stringed instrument) … and displays disrespectful pictures of the Prophet Mohammad … please proceed with immediate effect in blocking the website www.youtube.com

According to Aljarida.com, Youtube users activities represent 15% of all the internet traffic in Kuwait. The Kuwait Times reports that “A search of the word ‘Kuwait’ turned up 59,000 videos [on Youtube], including everything from videos of car crashes on Fahaheel Expressway and Jessica Simpson’s concert for US troops in Kuwait to protests in front of Abdullah Al-Salem hall in the run up to the 2006 parliamentary elections.”

Youtube is being blocked in Tunisia, Turkey and Syria. See our Access Denied Map for more information about web 2.0 censorship and anti-censorships efforts.

His crime? Posting this article, part of which is translated here into English, on Hespress [Ar], in which he describes how the Moroccan King’s charity and gratuities towards his people benefits “the lucky sons and daughters of this country and overlooks the rest.”

He explained his point:

Countries which respect their citizens do not turn them into beggars under the feet of nobility. Instead, they develop factories and workshops for them to work in and earn their living with dignity. Even if we assume that such gratuities are only dispersed to deserving citizens such as the special needs and poor, which is impossible at any rate, this isn’t anything that makes Moroccan citizens proud. The right to work, health care and education are granted by the Constitution. Therefore, the state should provide decent means of living for its citizens - other than humiliating them in this shameless manner.

And bloggers around the region have been nodding their heads in agreement - for they might just as well substitute the name Morocco from the article and replace it with the name of their countries.

Who is Mohammed Erraji? Why did he write what he wrote knowing well that in many countries in the Middle East criticising members of the vast Ruling families is very likely to result in repercussions and punishment? Saudi blogger Fouad Al Farhan, who recently found himself behind bars for his writings in Saudi Arabia, visits Erraji’s blog looking for answers.

After learning about Erraji’s arrest, Al Farhan visits his blog:

I visited his blog for the first time and was eager to visit his first posts, which usually speak about the blogger’s view towards blogging and the reasons why he is joining this wave. They also explain what his ambitions are and what he hopes to achieve through blogging. I found him saying in one of his first posts:
“I want to fill the pages of this blog with all the ideas which are erupting in my hear like an active volcano at times, and like cool refreshing breezes at others. I want to sit for long hours in front of the computer. I want to write about everything in my private life, and about politics, sports, religion, about everything. I want to write without stopping …”

With these words the Moroccan blogger Mohammed Erraji started his journey in the world of blogging. This journey, which started and will never be erased from his memory, and the memory of his family and friends for the rest of their lives. Mohammed Erraji, like many of our creative youth, is someone we never pay attention to until tragedy strikes.

About Erraji, Al Farhan says:

محمد الراجي عمره ٢٩ عاماً وعمر مدونته سنة ونصف. لولا أنه ذكر بنفسه بأنه لم يتجاوز المرحلة السادسة في مستواه التعليمي لما صدقت. هو “أمازيغي وعربي في نفس الآن” كما عرف عن نفسه. أما توجهه الفكري فيلخصه كما يلي: “مستقل بأفكاري ولا أحب أن أكون تابعا لأحد ، عندما يكون لدي موقف من قضية ما ، أدافع عنه بشراسة، وفي المقابل أستمع بأذن صاغية الى الآخرين ، وأقبل الحوار مع الجميع ، عندما أختلف مع شخص ما ، أختلف معه حول أفكاره ومواقفه فقط ، وليست لدي خلافات شخصية مع أحد”. في آخر تدويناته يصرخ في وجه “الجبناء” كما أسماهم مطالباً “بحماية سمعة وطنه” الذي يحبه ويعشقه. أوطاننا العربية التي نعشقها ويحاول البعض بكل جد وإجتهاد وبكل طريقة ممكنة أن يفقدنا الأمل في إصلاحها إما بتهوين المخاطر التي نمر بها أو بإقناعنا بشرعية “الخطوط الحمراء” التي هي في الأصل خطوط حمراء تحمي “المستفيدين” من أوضاع حرياتنا المفقودة في أوطاننا العربية.

Mohammed Erraji is 29 years old and his blog is a year and a half old. If he hadn’t mentioned that he hasn’t exceeded the sixth grade at school, I wouldn’t have believed him. As he describes himself, he is “an Amazigh and an Arab at the same time.” He summarises his ideaology as: “I am of independent thought, and I don’t like to be anyone’s follower. When I have a certain stance towards an issue, I defend it ferociously. In return, I listen to others, accept dialogue with everybody, and when I disagree with someone, I disagree with their thoughts and stances only, and I have no personal conflicts with anyone.” In one of his last posts, he screams in the face of “cowards,” as he called them, urging them to “protect the reputation of his nation,” which he loves - our Arab nation which we love, which some are exerting all their efforts, in every manner available to them, to make us lose hope in reforming it, either by exaggerating the dangers we are facing, or convincing us of the legality of the “red lines” which are in reality red lines which protect those benefiting from our lost freedom in our Arab world.

Al Farhan says he spent the entire day reading Erraji’s blog. He notes:

أعجبني نقده وأفكاره وإستقرائه وحججه وقوة لغته. أعجبتني جرأته وتسميته الأشياء بأسمائها. وجدته يعبر عن وجهة نظره بكل صراحة حول الإرهاب وغيرته على الإسلام من تصرفات المتطرفين وأطروحاتهم. تناول “أسامة بن لادن” بالإسم ونقده وأختار أن لا يؤجر عقله لكل من يستغل سوء أوضاعنا بطرح حلول تدميريه وإرهابية لا تقود إلا لمجتمعات خوف وعنف وظلام.
محمد الراجي لم يختبيء تحت معرفات وهمية في منتديات الإنترنت ليعبر عن رأيه بطرح متطرف أو صراخ لا يسمن ولا يغني من جوع. محمد الراجي فهم التدوين جيداً ولديه ثقة إيجابيه في ذاته وعقله وفكره نهلها من محيطه العائلي وتربيته التي يفتخر بها.
ولذلك قرر محمد الراجي أن يدون.

I admired his criticism, thoughts, analysis, arguments, and the beauty of his language. I admired his courage in calling things by their names. I found him expressing his ideas about terrorism and his concern over Islam and the reactions of extremists and what they do candidly. He wrote about Osama bin Laden, calling him by his name, and criticised him. He chose not to sell his mind to those who abuse our situation by suggesting terrorist solutions, which only lead societies to fear, violence and darkness.
Mohammed Erraji did not hide behind pseudonyms on Internet forums to express an extreme opinion or scream nonsense. Mohammed Erraji understood blogging for what it is, and has a positive confidence in himself and thoughts, which he learned from his family and upbringing, which he is proud of. This is why Mohammed Erraji decided to blog.

According to Al Farhan, had Erraji decided not to blog, his options would have been:

1. المضي في حياته اليومية بحثاً عن لقمة عيشه فاقداً الأمل في إمكانية أن يحدث تعبيره عن رأيه أي فرق في تحسين الواقع أو إيضاح مواطن الظلم. وبذلك ينضم للملايين من الشباب العربي المحبط
2. تأجير عقله لمتطرف يقول له بأن حمل السلاح والعنف هو الحل والمخرج من هذا الواقع العربي المظلم مثلما فعل الكثير من الشباب العربي المحبط أيضاً للأسف الشديد.
3. البحث عن مواطن أخرى ليخرج “كل الغضب الذي يتزاحم في صدره مثل حمم بركان هائج” من مخدرات وحشيش ومتع مدمرة وقع فيها الملايين من الشباب العربي المحبط.

1. Continue with his life earning a living without any hope that expressing his idea would improve reality and highlight where injustice is. This way he will be ones of the millions of depressed young Arabs
2. Renting his mind to an extremist who will ask him to carry arms and commit violence as a means to get out of this unjust Arab reality, as many young men have unfortuneately done.
3. Finding other avenues to express all this anger raging inside him like a volcano such as drugs and hashish and other dangerous entertainments which have claimed millions of young depressed Arabs.

Al Farhan explains that Erraji rejected all those options and immersed himself into blogging instead.

Turning his attention to the allergy of some governments towards freedom of expression, Al Farhan writes:

مشكلة الحكومات العربية مع الجيل الجديد من الشباب أنها لم تستوعب بعد أن الوقت تغير. هذا الجيل مشتعل بالغيرة وببراكين الغضب والأسئلة التي تتزاحم في عقله تبحث عن إجابات لحال وضعنا العربي المحبط.

The problem with Arab governments with the new generation of young people is that they have not grasped that times have changes. This generation is fired up with feelings towards their nation, with overflowing volcanoes of anger and questions rushing in their heads looking for solutions for our depressing conditions as Arabs.

In explaining how the world has changed, Al Farhan says:

في زمن ما، كان العربي في المغرب يسمع عن ما يحصل في المشرق عن طريق إذاعة لندن أو مونت كارلو أو صحيفة بائتة هنا أو هناك. بعد عالم الإنترنت، أصبحنا نعرف كل صغيرة وكبيرة إما عن طريق الفضائيات أو الإذاعات أو مواقع الإنترنت أو البريد الإلكتروني أو تويتر أو الفيسبوك. لم يعد هناك شيء مخفي.

Early on, Arabs in the Maghreb used to hear about what was happening in the East though the radio stations of London or Monte Carlo or old newspapers from here and there. After the Internet, we now know everything happening through satellite channels, radio stations, websites, email, Twitter and Facebook. There is nothing which can be hidden anymore.

Access to the Internet, adds Al Farhan, has made the world a different place. He therefore asks:

إذا كانوا لا يريدون منا أن نحلم وأن نتكلم ونطرح أفكارنا وأحلامنا للحوار والنقاش فلماذا يسمحون بإدخال الإنترنت في بلداننا العربية؟

If they did not want us to dream and speak and express our ideas and aspirations in dialogues or discuss them, why have they allowed the Internet into our Arab countries?

On his blog, Gopalan had allegedly insulted Justice Belinda Ang in relation to a court matter in assessing damages in a defamation suit that Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew won against the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) and its leaders.

Gopalan (pic below) had allegedly accused Justice Ang of “prostituting herself…by being nothing more than an employee of Mr Lee Kuan Yew and his son and carrying out their orders”. In his defence, Gopalan said that he hoped to raise political awareness in Singapore on his blog. He admitted that his words might have been strong, but he was not remorseful as they were true. Gopalan had represented himself in court, and was charged under Section 228 of Singapore’s Penal Code, “Intentional insult or interruption to a public servant sitting in any stage of a judicial proceeding”.

Gopalan’s sentence comes shortly after Singapore’s attorney general announced contempt of court proceedings it had filed against the publisher of the Asian edition of the Wall Street Journal and two of its editors, saying their editorials “impugn the impartiality, integrity and independence of the Singapore judiciary”.

According to Reuters, freedom of speech and expression, especially in relation to politics, race and religion, are tightly regulated in Singapore. While, the government says this is needed to maintain the country’s social and political stability, critics suggest it is misuse of the legal system.

The ISA was first enacted in 1960, ostensibly to curb the threat communism. The preamble of the Act states:

An Act to provide for the internal security of Malaysia, preventive detention, the prevention of subversion, the suppression of organized violence against persons and property in specified areas of Malaysia, and for matters incidental thereto.

Apparently, detention without trial under the ISA operates in two stages:

1. initial detention of up to 60 days upon the authority of the police
2. then a two year renewable order by the authority of the Home Minister

Detainees are apparently held in solitary confinement and denied any contact with lawyers. The notorious Operasi Lalang of 1987 was a massive crackdown on opposition leaders, academicis, religious, social and environmental activists. The 1990s saw the detention of Al-Arqam leaders, the alleged ring leaders of the Reformasi and Hindraf Movements. Click here for a list of known detainees under the Malaysian Internal Security Act 1960.

Critics have said that the government’s continued use of the ISA defeats the Government’s own claim to be subject to the rule of law, and will just give the perception that the detainees are held for their political activities.

RPK’s detentions is reported to be at the first stage, i.e under s. 73(1) of the ISA, which permits detention of an individual for up to 60 days. RPK has also been detained under the ISA in 2001 for his alleged involvement in the Reformasi (reformation) movement. He was held for 53 days at the Kamunting Detention Centre in Taiping, Perak. Opposition parties strongly condemn this move by the government.

Material on the ISA:

• Malaysian Bar
• Centre for Independent Journalism
• Human Rights Watch 1
• Human Rights Watch 2
• Gerak Malaysia – Movement for Democracy and Anti-Corruption