I had posted earlier that bloggers are now under gunfire in Egypt. Several people here in the United States asked me why is this happening to bloggers, and why now? I will try to explain that here

Bloggers have put name and face to state security torturers and therefore the battle became personal. We demonstrated in the streets with posters of high rank security officials who supervised sexual harassment of female protesters in May 2005 and those who tortured micro-bus driver Emad el Kabir, and the ones who tortured blogger Sharqawi, and other notorious torture video heros. Their photos and videos were all over the web, their names became public. During the so-called “spring of democracy” Mubarak and Ministry of Interior were rather unsure how to deal with us. Their reactions varried from withdraw, beat, imprison, summon, threat, to sexual assaults. Now, namely after the last brick collapsed – the Constitution, it is pay back time! n

Bloggers are independent and free. They act individually, campaign collectively and take responsibility for what they dare. To have uncontrolable bloggers in Egypt who shape public opinion and force topics of torture, sexual harassement, corruption, and election falsification on main stream media is not something a police-state would accept. State security in Egypt controls Egypt. To break that down; state security controls student elections, access to student dorms, appointment of university deans, local council elections, parliamentary elections, presidential elections, political party infiltration, official news papers (editors in chief are interviewed privately in state security HQ Lazoghly before they get appointed), public TV, public radio, NGO registration, NGO activities, implementation of judicial sentences, and more!  n

Bloggers voices are clearly heard in the so-called West! Sandmonkey quitting echoed for foreigners more than Egyptians. Bloggers enjoy wide readership among embassies, diplomats, scholars and policy makers all over the world. If you want to know about Egypt but can’t sit at a cafe and chat with people; you read the blogs!  n

War Episodes

Egypt regime is labelling bloggers as the bunch of kids who go to jail. Now when an old man finds out his son or daughter are blogging he feels concerned for their safety and tries to convince them otherwise. Bloggers’ campaigns have shifted from exposing corruption to setting-free their jailed fellows. Alaa, Malek, Simsima, Abo Islam, Sharqawi, Kareem, Monem (and others) were jailed. Hamalawy, Gemyhood, Salma (and others) were suspended for hours or beaten in street

Female bloggers Eman and Torture in Egypt editor were summoned to state security, the former shut down her blog while the latter stopped blogging. Blogger Eman, however, came under gun fire not for insulting Mubarak or defaming Egypt, but rather for criticising the Libyan president Qaddafi. Ironically, a representative from the Libyan embassy attended her scary interview at State Security HQ in Alexandria during which she was asked to shut down both her blog and her mouth! This reminds us of female coptic blogger Hala who also quit following state security threats last summer  

Several Egyptian bloggers subjected to threats quit silently fearing the consequences of speaking out while others lost their jobs under strange conditions.  n  

Twenty-one blogs and websites stand threat of being blocked as an Egyptian judge by the name of Abdel Fattah Murad is suing the government for allowing these websites to exist claiming they publish reports that “defame Egypt, insult the president, and attack other Arab regimes, threat security and stability of the homeland and Arab countries“. Such seemingly silly charges and over-consumed rhetoric is becoming a real threat when it gets rubber stamped against those who expose social diseases and regime corruption. Truth is, websites in question expose torture and also expose judge Murad plagiarism of HRInfo report on status of internet in the Arab World, in Murad’s recent book

Bloggers Manal, Alaa face charges of slander while rights lawyer Gamal Eid face charges of libel by judge Murad. Interstingly, Murad’s witnesses against bloggers in this case are the same Hisba lawyers who filed civil law suits against blogger Kareem Amer  

Blogger Amr Gharbeia and rights lawyers Ahmed Seif el-Islam and Gamal Eid face charges of blackmailing judge Murad asking him to pay LE 50,000 and forcing him to publish information that would defame Egypt

Today, May 10, Judge Murad adds 29 new blogs and websites to his earlier list of 21 websites allegedly “defaming Egypt, insulting president Mubarak and himself”, summing them up to 50 – for the moment. The newly added list includes Hamalawy, Kefaya webiste, el Ghad online newspaper,  Kareem Amer blog, Tharwa,  and my personal blog: norayounis.net

Today bloggers Monem and Kareem rest in prison cells. Bloggers around the world are campaigning for their release

Why is Monem in jail, why should you suport his freedom? n

Although Monem belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood group which I have strong disagreements with; not a single post on his Ana Ikhwan blog was for religious advocacy. I would have still supported his freedom if he was a religious advocate. But the fact that Monem was blogging against military rule, against torture, against oppression makes his battle mine, and his freedom my cause. “Freedom is now an obligation and should be implemented before Sharia’a” is one of his posted quotes

I had lately supported Human Rights organisations conduct interviews with several young Muslim Brotherhood members recently released from state security detention camps. They would all give their torture testimoney off record or based on anonymity and they would all say God will reward us, on Him we rest our case, but Monem is different! He published his torture testimoney on his blog, he took it to public conferences, he dare to speak. In the police-state Egypt, if he slips away with it tens or hundreds would dare to give their torture testimonies on record thus revealing crimes against humanity by high rank officials

For those who haven’t heard, I repeat: war on bloggers in Egypt started and every day brings a new episode. Freedom of speech in Egypt needs your support now. Stand for your values, fellow free souls

photos by Obaida and Hamalawy respectively