Oakley Blades Look Alike
blogs anger shaking the Arab world Beirut, Delphine Minoui
Le Figaro, 26/05/2008 eventually sentenced to three years in prison. Reason given: "publishing false information" and "weakening national sentiment". In fact, the young man of 23 has posted an article criticizing the security of his country on an Internet forum.
Tariq's story is not isolated. From Damascus to Riyadh, via Cairo, a wave of crackdown on a new opposition force that challenges those in power: the "dissidents". Armed with a computer, mobile phone, and sometimes a digital camera, this new generation of budding journalists has given aims to break the silence about abuses of human rights.
"They fill the void left by the local press, muzzled by the powers that be," said Gert Van Langendonck, editor of Menessat, a website dedicated to Arab media. Corruption, torture, harassment ... Nothing escapes the bloggers. "Without them, nobody would be able to know what is happening in these companies," says Alexandra Sandels, a Swedish journalist who works on cyber censorship in the Middle East. Neither
size constraints or delays in printing these little computer nerds. Using Internet tools Social networking Web sites or the twitters, these text messages sent directly from a mobile phone on a blog, bloggers inform in real time, avoiding censorship. Guaranteed success, judging by the recent mobilization of the Tunisian blogosphere, where one could see young writers tell, live demonstrations by thousands of workers in phosphate mines of Gafsa, and Umm-el Redyef Arayess-in protest against inflation. Official newspapers have kept to share with their readers.
Multiplication filters
On Canvas Egyptian, one grasps the significance of this virtual slingshot. With a video posted on YouTube, Wael Abbas, a blogger in vogue in the land of the pyramids, managed to alert last year, public opinion on the case of a bus driver sodomized by two police officers. At the point of forcing justice to convict the guilty to two years in prison.
side of the coin, the 33-year cyberactivist discovered later that his account had been blocked at YouTube ... and his inbox closed. "The lack of legislation on the Internet is a godsend, because it facilitates freedom of expression," said Clothilde Le Coz, Reporters Without Borders. "However, the government benefit, also, this vacuum to suppress the bloggers all the sauces, "she adds. The latest example: the arrest for a fortnight in April, the young Egyptian Esraa Abdel Fattah. His crime "virtual" have created on Facebook, a group calling for a general strike demanding, among other things, better salaries.
Government pressure does not stop there. "There's more to the increase in indirect forms of censorship," said Clothilde Le Coz. She cites the proliferation of filters blocking access to controversial sites, or the more systematic monitoring of cybercafes. In Syria, a decree in July 2007 requires the owners of websites to keep the personal data of the authors of articles. "By finding the cause of its connection to the Damascus authorities have apparently succeeded in identifying Tariq Biassi. During his interrogation, the young man denied the allegations made against her by ensuring that published comments were not his, since he shared a phone line with six other subscribers, including a cyber cafe, note- she said. But for now, justice remains strong. Two other dissidents, Saad and Habib Saleh, currently suffering the same fate as him.
With their mastery of computers, e-opponents "are coming to circumvent the filters applied on the web. When colleagues are imprisoned, they make a point of honor to publish the information, to make sites that are dedicated to them. Irony of history: since his arrest, Tariq Biassi, the young blogger "shy and quiet" is as described by his friends, enjoys a reputation he never imagined. The petition "Free Tariq (Tariq Free) is backed by a dozen blogs and forums on the Internet.
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