successive three-year periods since President
Anwar Sadat’s assassination in 1981. Although in
his re-election campaign Hosni Mubarak said he
would replace the Emergency Law with an antiterrorism law, in May of 2006 parliament extended the Emergency Law for another two years
while the government drafts the new law. 16
Much-anticipated amendments to Egypt’s
Press Law, which Mubarak signed in July 2006,
struck many of the old law’s most controversial
provisions. However, it left intact prison sentences for journalists who criticize the president
or foreign leaders, or who “spread false news,” 17
as mentioned previously. The laws cover print
and “other” publications, which courts have interpreted as including online writings. 18
Although there is no law that explicitly
empowers the government to block Web sites, a
2006 court decision maintained that the Ministry
of Communications & Information Technology is
permitted to “block, suspend or shut down any
website liable to pose a threat to national security.” 19 This ruling gives the Department for
Confronting Computer and Internet Crime, a special unit within the Ministry of Interior, additional
tools to pursue Web sites deemed “threatening,”
and some worry that such pursuit is escalating. 20
In January 2007, the Ministry of Interior
announced plans to propose an international initiative to combat terrorism online. No Web sites
are currently blocked outright, but security officials monitor data traffic, including e-mail, blogs,
bulletin boards, and other Web sites. Internet
café owners have reported that security officials
have instructed them to keep lists of their customers and the customers’ identification numbers. 21 Furthermore, Internet café owners must
seek a license from the Ministry of
Telecommunications; 22 those without licenses
can be shut down.
23
Owners are sometimes
given lists of people who are to be banned from
using their cafés, and they are always supposed
to check IDs; some places have signs that
“announce ‘No entry to political or sexual sites by
order of the State Security.’” 24
The government has arrested writers for
their online activities. In 2003, for example, State
Security officers detained activist Ashraf Ibrahim
on charges of “spreading false news” for e-mailing accounts and photographs of police violence
at anti-war demonstrations to international
human rights organizations. On February 22,
2007, a criminal court in Alexandria sentenced
22-year-old blogger Abd al-Karim Nabil Sulaiman
to four years in prison on charges of “vilifying
Islam” and “insulting the president.” 25 The
Egyptian government has also used the Internet
to entrap men engaged in consensual homosexual conduct. Though it is not officially against the
law to engage in homosexual acts, dozens of
men have been charged with “debauchery” or
“distributing obscene material” after chatting with
police who were posing as gay men online. 26
ONI testing results
ONI conducted in-country tests in fall 2006 and
found no evidence of Internet filtering in Egypt. In
2005, most ISPs blocked www.ikhwanonline.com,
the official site of the Muslim Brotherhood,
Egypt’s largest opposition movement. At one
time, the popular ISP LINKdotNET blocked
www.alshaab.com, the Web site of the Labor
Party’s biweekly newsletter, but no longer does. 27
Though there have been reports that Web
sites for the Muslim Brotherhood are regularly
blocked, neither the official Web site for the
Muslim Brotherhood, www.ikhwanonline.com,
nor the unofficial www.ikhwanweb.com, were
blocked when the testing was conducted.
A number of ISPs also offer optional filters
that block pornography; TEData offers a “Family
Internet” plan that filters pornography and dating
sites. Some of these packages restrict blogs and
other Web sites as well. 28
278
Country Summaries
Anwar Sadat’s assassination in 1981. Although in
his re-election campaign Hosni Mubarak said he
would replace the Emergency Law with an antiterrorism law, in May of 2006 parliament extended the Emergency Law for another two years
while the government drafts the new law. 16
Much-anticipated amendments to Egypt’s
Press Law, which Mubarak signed in July 2006,
struck many of the old law’s most controversial
provisions. However, it left intact prison sentences for journalists who criticize the president
or foreign leaders, or who “spread false news,” 17
as mentioned previously. The laws cover print
and “other” publications, which courts have interpreted as including online writings. 18
Although there is no law that explicitly
empowers the government to block Web sites, a
2006 court decision maintained that the Ministry
of Communications & Information Technology is
permitted to “block, suspend or shut down any
website liable to pose a threat to national security.” 19 This ruling gives the Department for
Confronting Computer and Internet Crime, a special unit within the Ministry of Interior, additional
tools to pursue Web sites deemed “threatening,”
and some worry that such pursuit is escalating. 20
In January 2007, the Ministry of Interior
announced plans to propose an international initiative to combat terrorism online. No Web sites
are currently blocked outright, but security officials monitor data traffic, including e-mail, blogs,
bulletin boards, and other Web sites. Internet
café owners have reported that security officials
have instructed them to keep lists of their customers and the customers’ identification numbers. 21 Furthermore, Internet café owners must
seek a license from the Ministry of
Telecommunications; 22 those without licenses
can be shut down.
23
Owners are sometimes
given lists of people who are to be banned from
using their cafés, and they are always supposed
to check IDs; some places have signs that
“announce ‘No entry to political or sexual sites by
order of the State Security.’” 24
The government has arrested writers for
their online activities. In 2003, for example, State
Security officers detained activist Ashraf Ibrahim
on charges of “spreading false news” for e-mailing accounts and photographs of police violence
at anti-war demonstrations to international
human rights organizations. On February 22,
2007, a criminal court in Alexandria sentenced
22-year-old blogger Abd al-Karim Nabil Sulaiman
to four years in prison on charges of “vilifying
Islam” and “insulting the president.” 25 The
Egyptian government has also used the Internet
to entrap men engaged in consensual homosexual conduct. Though it is not officially against the
law to engage in homosexual acts, dozens of
men have been charged with “debauchery” or
“distributing obscene material” after chatting with
police who were posing as gay men online. 26
ONI testing results
ONI conducted in-country tests in fall 2006 and
found no evidence of Internet filtering in Egypt. In
2005, most ISPs blocked www.ikhwanonline.com,
the official site of the Muslim Brotherhood,
Egypt’s largest opposition movement. At one
time, the popular ISP LINKdotNET blocked
www.alshaab.com, the Web site of the Labor
Party’s biweekly newsletter, but no longer does. 27
Though there have been reports that Web
sites for the Muslim Brotherhood are regularly
blocked, neither the official Web site for the
Muslim Brotherhood, www.ikhwanonline.com,
nor the unofficial www.ikhwanweb.com, were
blocked when the testing was conducted.
A number of ISPs also offer optional filters
that block pornography; TEData offers a “Family
Internet” plan that filters pornography and dating
sites. Some of these packages restrict blogs and
other Web sites as well. 28
278
Country Summaries