Saturday, January 29, 2011

Egyptian bloggers brave police intimidation

Ehab El Zelaky, Web editor for the independent newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm, pictured in the newsroom in Cairo, Egypt. El Zelaky is considered one of the first Egyptian print editors to engage bloggers in the print media. The bloggers are supported by IT specialists, human rights lawyers, and independent newspaper editors. (Anastasia Taylor-Lind / VII Mentor)
Their ranks are young and their voices continue to be heard despite threats

1/27/2011
By Suzanne Choney
msnbc.com

Their voices may not be the ones heard on the streets of Egypt, but what they're saying is coming through loud and clear over the Internet, via websites, blogs and social networking sites, like Facebook and Twitter.

Egypt's bloggers are young, as much of the nation is, with the median age being 24. Noha Atef, 26, started blogging about five years ago, spurred by reports she read about Egyptian women who were being tortured in police stations.

She hasn't experienced such ugliness first-hand, but she and her family are threatened and harassed, she said in a recent interview with The Friday Bulletin.


"Police never beat me, but more than one time summoned me. I was advised by them to stop blogging, while my family were threatened of my disappearance, rape and 'punishment' if they didn’t stop me," she told the publication.

Her online work could be "easily interpreted as a text that 'encourages people to hate police,' which is a crime in Egyptian law," she said.

Such is the case for thousands of others whose laptops and cell phones are always at hand. Most are protesting not only their country's politics and President Hosni Mubarak, who has been in power for nearly 30 years, but what they say are human rights violations involving torture — and sometimes murder.

Their ranks include a support network, people like Ahmed Garbeia, a freelance software engineer who organizes workshops for bloggers, as well as human rights lawyers, and independent newspaper editors.

Sometimes, despite the support, the struggle is too much.

Blogger and political activist Shahinez Abdelsalam is one of those who recently emigrated to France, saying she was "too tired" of the battles.

"The Internet is open, fast and everywhere," says British photojournalist Anastasia Taylor-Lind, who is based in the Middle East. "But bloggers are routinely harassed, imprisoned, sometimes tortured and occasionally murdered."

Taylor-Lind says many bloggers "are the children of Cairo’s intellectuals, radicals and activists and they gather late into the night in the shabby downtown street cafes their parents inhabited in the 1960s and 70s, cafes like Al Borsah and Takeiba, where the conversation over mint tea or Arabic coffee is always revolutionary and anti-Mubarak."

However, she notes, "cyber activism ... comes at a price in Egypt, and bloggers are routinely arrested and imprisoned for speaking out. During these detainments, police torture is not uncommon and there are currently more than 20 people serving prison sentences for 'crimes' connected to cyber activism in the country."

Heba Saleh, writing in The Financial Times, said that "Egypt's young activists organise on the Internet and generally eschew ideology. They want democracy, social justice and an end to corruption, torture and police brutality. Their demands do not include Islamic rule or a government of any particular hue."

Facebook and Twitter are popular venues for contact, he said, and activists' "face-to-face meetings are rare. There is no single leader and those who organise the protests remain anonymous — which has generally kept them out of the hands of the police."

Saleh quoted one organizer, who wrote on Facebook: "I don’t know what will happen tomorrow and where I will be tomorrow night. I may be at home, protesting on the street, in prison or in my grave. But I know I have to go and get my rights."

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Khmer people in Cambodia learn from this.....The government is put there by the Khmer people you voted for them to run the country. If they are not doing theirs jobs it is time for them to go. Get rid of them Look at Khmer today NO Jobs, Poverty(the last 40yrs)and no Land, Khmer is second citizen to your own country.

Anonymous said...

*Cambodia is difference from that country from this...!!!!
*ALL Military and Polices High range officers are not from Academy school .They're Nominates from Hun sen.The system forces authorities Right now not the same before year 1975.so this is a Hard Point for KHMER Nation.
-After year 1979 Khmer People still have a Coward, a depression....ect... diseases unt'il now.They scary to DIE and always crying and let Hun sen forces biting them for FREE....ect....!!!!
HEAD ACHE

Anonymous said...

leave egyptians i egypt, don't bring egypt to cambodia, please! egypt is in north africa, cambodia is in asia, it's a world apart, you know! god bless cambodia.

Anonymous said...

Dear Dr. Hun Sen and Ten Thousands stars Dr. Hun Manet,

Why do you and your relatives give Kos Trol, sea and lands to Vietnam? Why? and Why?

Why do you and all of your relatives involve alot of murder cases in Cambodia? Why? Why?

Why do you murder cambodian K5,1997events and so on and so on with lost count? Why?

If you are so good why do you and your families murder cambodians? Why? and Why?

If you are so good why do about 90%cambodians are so poor but you and your relatives are billionair and millinor? Why? Why?

Why do you try to kill people from telling the true? Why? Why?

What is the difference from Khmer Rough and you, Sir?

If you are so good Why do you block KI from cambodians?

If you are so good why more than 6 millions vietnameses are living permantly in cambodia, right now? Why, Dr. Hen Sen? and Why

Every where, I walk in Cambodia I see vietnamese speak vietnamese every where, why? why?

Don't you and your families scare of hell for ethernity?

When you die can you bring all of your power and money with you?

Dr. Hun Sen and Dr. Big ass lady and his belove Dr. Hun Manet Please don't put us in jail or kill us for this! We want to live like you and your families do!

Khmers victim of 1997 and K5

PS

If Dr. Hun Sen and Dr. Hun Manet remove the tablet it is show they are extremely coward and his star are just joy stars given by his daddy not by patriotism. Dr. Hun Manet is very coward as his daddy they only aim to kill innocent cambodians that all. Dr. Hun SEn and Dr. ten stars Hun Manet are very great at bullying cambodians and killing Cambodians but cowardly toward Thai and Viet.

Seriously where is the win win policy of Dr. Hun Sen represent. The country is getting smaller and shamer by Dr. Hun Sen and Dr. Hun Manet.

Anonymous said...

It seems the H1N1 is speading everywhere even into Cambodia!

My Khmer Compatriots,

You don't have other choice, but to organise an Armed Uprising right now to against these Hanoi's Puppet Hun Sen's families and it cronies.

All of you are in a loose-loose situation by Legal Means.
Freedom will never fall from the Sky. You have to fight to get that.
Hun Sen and Hanoi will continue to oppress you and confiscate your lands for their vietnamese bosses and their own interessts.

And how many Vietnamese illegal immigrants in Cambodia now ??? there are 6-7 million of them and over 100,000 in armed camoulfage.
The Hanoi's Vietnamisation is step by step and almost finished to their goal.

All of you will be Hanoi's slaves on your ancestors Lands very soon.
They cannot kill all of you in all Sroks and all Provinces, otherwise the whole world will step in to help liberate you from this mess of political CHAOS.

I called to Khmer compatriots to rise up with Axes, Swords, Sticks, Knives, Spears, Arrows, and possible grenades, B40-B41 hand Guns, shot guns to riot and kill THEM for your Freedom and liberate your country from the vietnamese yoke.

If you don't dare to die you won't survive.

Anonymous said...

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ធ្វើមហាបាតុកម្ម ឬកុប្បកុម្ម វ៉ៃបណ្តេញពួកអាឆ្កែ
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វ៉ៃបណ្តេញឱ្យពួកវាដួលរលំរត់ទៅចៅហ្វាយរបស់វានៅ ហាណូយ ដែលជាប្រទេសម៉ែ ឪទី២របស់ពួកវា។

យើងខ្មែរទូទាំងប្រទេស យកគំរូពី ប្រទេសទុយនេហ្ស៊ី
ទៅ ប្រទេសអេហ្ស៊ីបជាគំរូ...!
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