Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IDN
BY KAREEM EZZAT*
(IDN) – “Egypt has become the most repressive country to internet users in the Arab world,” the Cairo-based Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) has reported.
The Egyptian regime “has stopped the policy of blocking websites five years ago and now directs its repression with full force against bloggers and internet users”, informs ANHRI.
In is third report on the freedom of internet use in 20 Arab countries, released on Dec. 23, ANHRI states that countries like Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and most of all Syria, continue to block websites.
Internet has a snowball effect on the process of democracy in the Arab countries, it says. “This new force cannot be stopped by government’s actions of censorship, blocking the internet and arresting and even torturing internet users.”
The report, titled ‘One social Network, with a Rebellious Message’, emphasises that in the Arab region “where the most repressive regimes lie”, internet is used to bring democracy and free expression to the region.
ANHRI’s report examines four tools (Blogs, Facebook, Twitter and You Tube) that the Arab internet users, especially the young ones, “use to fight for their right to free expression and expose corruption and repression in the Arab world.”
The report reveals “the government-sponsored repression against internet users in the Arab world.”
KIDNAPPING, TORTURING INTERNET USERS
“Many violations have been committed against internet users; this includes kidnapping, arresting, torturing internet users using the Emergency Law like in Egypt and Syria,” it reports.
In some countries, like Saudi Arabia, “religious authorities have issued statements banning some websites that the governments were not able to block”.
Out of current 58 million users in all Arab countries, whose population amounts to around 330 millions inhabitants, “only internet users in Lebanon, Algeria and Somalia have freedom in using the internet”.
But ANHRI explains that this relative freedom in these two countries is mainly due to the widespread of the tapping phenomenon in Lebanon, and the government being too occupied in what seems to be a civil in Somalia.
In general, in the last three years, “the level of repression and harassment against internet users has increased with the increase in the number of users.”
Even countries like Morocco and the United Arab Emirates, who were known to allow freedom of internet usage, have started to show a repressive attitude towards internet users, according to the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information.
“Countries, like Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and most of all Syria, continue to block websites.”
The 235-page report includes statistics and information about telecommunication and internet sector in the Arab countries, conducted by ANHRI’s team of researchers.
THE UNSTOPPABLE SNOWBALL
Emphasising what it calls snowball effect of using internet in Arab countries, the report says, “Now that the snowball is rolling, it can no longer be stopped. Getting bigger and stronger, it is bound to crush down all obstacles.”
In addition to the stress caused by the Arab bloggers, Arab activists have been using Facebook in the utmost creative way to support the democracy movement in the Arab region, which “has one of the highest rates of repression in the world”.
The number of Arabic blogs is estimated in about 600,000, of which 150,000 are active, according to the report, which also estimates the number of Facebook users in Arab countries in about 12 million.
Unlike other regions where oppressive countries (like China, Iran and Burma) represent the exception, ‘oppression can be found everywhere” in the Arab region, says ANHRI.
NOT MANY, BUT ACTIVE
The number of Arab internet users interested in political affairs does not exceed a few thousands, mainly represented by internet activists and bloggers.
Even though, “they have succeeded in shedding some light on the corruption and repression of the Arab governments and dictatorships”.
ANHRI reports that Arab regimes and their security agencies “have been censoring and cracking down on traditional mass media” such as newspapers TV stations and satellite channels, “seizing newspapers’ issues and stopping the emissions of TV channels.
However, it is hard to have the same control over the internet, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information concludes. (IDN-InDepthNews/24.12.09)
*Kareem Ezzat is a Middle East political analyst.
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