Ikhwanweb :: The Muslim Brotherhood Official English Website

Blogger Freedom in Egypt

While the news of Ayman Nour’s release is a very positive sign - Michael Slackman reminds readers that civil liberties still have a long way to go in Egypt. Slackman particularly note the severe censorship endured by bloggers in Egypt:

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While the news of Ayman Nour’s release is a very positive sign - Michael Slackman reminds readers that civil liberties still have a long way to go in Egypt. Slackman particularly note the severe censorship endured by bloggers in Egypt:

“It is all too common for the security services to grab citizens, detain them without charge, refuse to release any information concerning their whereabouts and deny them even the minimal protections, under an emergency law passed decades ago to help fight terrorism. The security services appear to have decided that it is generally acceptable to write for a newspaper. But bloggers are another matter. For some reason, as yet unexplained, blogging seems to cross the line from speaking to acting. It may be that bloggers, by nature, are less willing to stop at the edge of what criticism is tolerated. Newspaper writers, for example, are cautious about how they deal with the president; bloggers have often attacked him head-on.”

Eric Trager argues that what is particularly unique about the latest imprisonment of Philip Rizk, was that Rizk’s activism was in regards to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and not about the Egyptian government:

“Remember: the Mubarak regime owes its long-term survival to the careful choice of horse to bet on.  The ultimate significance of Philip Rizk’s arrest, therefore, is that Israel is expected to emerge strengthened from its ongoing ceasefire negotiations with a weakened Hamas.  But don’t expect Michael Slackman to tell you so.”