The two ISPs were found to block Web sites that express alternative political or
religious views. For example, in addition to blocking UAE prison (uaeprison.com), a
Web site hosting testimonials of former prisoners and critiques of the government’s
human rights practices, and the Web site of the U.S.-based Arab Times (arabtimes
.com), the ONI found that the censors blocked the Web site ‘‘Save Zack Shahin’’
(www.savezackshahin.com), an online campaign calling for the release of U.S. citizen
Zack Shahin from a UAE prison. The Web site encourages Americans to help him by
sending letters to members of Congress. Shahin is a former chief executive of a Dubai
property developer who in April 2009, together with a former UAE minister, was
charged with seizing public money and harming state interests. 30
Another example is the blocking of the Web site UAE Torture (uaetorture.com),
which posted video clips that allegedly show a member of the UAE royal family torturing an Afghan businessman. The story drew the attention of international media such
as ABC 31 and human rights advocates such as Human Rights Watch. 32 Blocking of this
Web site has been inconsistent, however: it has been found to be accessible and inaccessible at different times.
The UAE’s censors are also apparently sensitive to content that is critical of the state
of the local economy or society. For example, censors blocked access to the Arabic UAE
blog Mujarad Ensan (mujarad-ensan.maktoobblog.com) in October 2008, a few days
after the anonymous blogger published a post sarcastically entitled, ‘‘Laugh with Me
and Say: Our Economy Is in a Good Condition.’’ In the text of the blog post, he accused
the UAE government of lacking transparency when dealing with the U.S. financial
crisis and the local papers of lying about the real status of the local economy. The
writer also accused government-owned real estate companies of publishing exaggerated information about business deals to create the impression that the local economy
had not been negatively affected by the U.S. financial crisis. The ONI monitored access
to the blog and found that it became accessible a few days later for unknown reasons.
Another example is the blocking of the blog Secret Dubai Diary (secretdubai
.blogspot.com), which was also found blocked in 2006–2007 testing. Apparently, this
blog was blocked because it offers a critical review of social life in the UAE.
Similar to 2006–2007 testing results, several Web sites presenting unorthodox
perspectives on Islam (thequran.com, islamreview.com, secularislam.org) were blocked,
along with a handful of Web sites promoting minority faiths (albrhan.org, ansarweb
.net). Among the few Web sites considered ‘‘extremist’’ that are filtered in the UAE
are hinduunity.org, which advocates Hindu solidarity and resistance to Islam, and
kahanetzadak.com, a Web site devoted to the founder of the militant Jewish Defense
League.
Testing conducted in 2008–2009 showed that censors have expanded filtering in
these categories to include previously accessible Web sites such as the presumably
UAE-based atheist blogs Ben Kerishan (benkerishan.blogspot.com), The Land of
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United Arab Emirates
religious views. For example, in addition to blocking UAE prison (uaeprison.com), a
Web site hosting testimonials of former prisoners and critiques of the government’s
human rights practices, and the Web site of the U.S.-based Arab Times (arabtimes
.com), the ONI found that the censors blocked the Web site ‘‘Save Zack Shahin’’
(www.savezackshahin.com), an online campaign calling for the release of U.S. citizen
Zack Shahin from a UAE prison. The Web site encourages Americans to help him by
sending letters to members of Congress. Shahin is a former chief executive of a Dubai
property developer who in April 2009, together with a former UAE minister, was
charged with seizing public money and harming state interests. 30
Another example is the blocking of the Web site UAE Torture (uaetorture.com),
which posted video clips that allegedly show a member of the UAE royal family torturing an Afghan businessman. The story drew the attention of international media such
as ABC 31 and human rights advocates such as Human Rights Watch. 32 Blocking of this
Web site has been inconsistent, however: it has been found to be accessible and inaccessible at different times.
The UAE’s censors are also apparently sensitive to content that is critical of the state
of the local economy or society. For example, censors blocked access to the Arabic UAE
blog Mujarad Ensan (mujarad-ensan.maktoobblog.com) in October 2008, a few days
after the anonymous blogger published a post sarcastically entitled, ‘‘Laugh with Me
and Say: Our Economy Is in a Good Condition.’’ In the text of the blog post, he accused
the UAE government of lacking transparency when dealing with the U.S. financial
crisis and the local papers of lying about the real status of the local economy. The
writer also accused government-owned real estate companies of publishing exaggerated information about business deals to create the impression that the local economy
had not been negatively affected by the U.S. financial crisis. The ONI monitored access
to the blog and found that it became accessible a few days later for unknown reasons.
Another example is the blocking of the blog Secret Dubai Diary (secretdubai
.blogspot.com), which was also found blocked in 2006–2007 testing. Apparently, this
blog was blocked because it offers a critical review of social life in the UAE.
Similar to 2006–2007 testing results, several Web sites presenting unorthodox
perspectives on Islam (thequran.com, islamreview.com, secularislam.org) were blocked,
along with a handful of Web sites promoting minority faiths (albrhan.org, ansarweb
.net). Among the few Web sites considered ‘‘extremist’’ that are filtered in the UAE
are hinduunity.org, which advocates Hindu solidarity and resistance to Islam, and
kahanetzadak.com, a Web site devoted to the founder of the militant Jewish Defense
League.
Testing conducted in 2008–2009 showed that censors have expanded filtering in
these categories to include previously accessible Web sites such as the presumably
UAE-based atheist blogs Ben Kerishan (benkerishan.blogspot.com), The Land of
594
United Arab Emirates