CAIRO: The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) reported today that the Supreme Administrative Court in Cairo has decided to postpone the case against pornographic and human rights websites until July 4. The move comes as the ministry of communications has asked for additional time to discuss the memorandum filed by judge Abdul Fattah Murad. ANHRI called out the court, saying it was another attempt to curtail freedom of expression in Egypt and that the country appears to be following the “lead of some Arab governments hostile to freedom of the Internet, such as Tunisia and Saudi Arabia in blocking many websites.” Two years ago, Murad filed a request to block 49 websites, including ANHRI, over the dissemination of what the Cairo-based rights group called “his illegal copying of dozens of pages” of a report from ANHRI on the use of the Internet in the Arab world. At the time, Murad claimed these sites were “terrorist” by nature and would “harm the reputation of Egypt.” A court threw out the case, but the judge appealed the sentence and is demanding that the government follow through on maintaining the “image of Egypt abroad.” Gamal Eid, the Executive Director of ANHRI said that his organization “feel[s] that there is a trick mad by that judge who insisted on signing his memo as legal adviser and Judge Dr. Abdul Fattah Murad. The judge who abused all the values of scientific research when he copied complete pages of the human rights report and reprinted them in a commercial book, without declaring his sources.” He argued that now “the question now is does he try to confirm his being a judge, rather than his role in this case as a normal citizen and a publisher and owner of a print house that prints and sell books commercially, while totally violates the intellectual property rights.” Egyptian human rights organizations and websites have been under nearly constant government attack in recent years. According to one human rights activists who spoke with Bikya Masr, “this is another example of how this government treats its people. What are we to do?” The activist pondered that since American President Barack Obama has come and left Cairo, “there is no stopping the government from doing whatever it wants now that America is on its side.” BM
