CAIRO: The Administrative Court overruled on Saturday a decision issued by the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) last month to monitor mobile text messages news alerts sent by organizations to the public. The NTRA issued the decision on Oct. 11 stating that organizations that send mass messages to the public needed to obtain a license from national bodies and to get the approval of national authorities on the content of the messages before sending them. The license was priced at LE 1 million, half of which would be paid as insurance for the NTRA to deduct from in case of violation to the terms of the license. The decision also obliged subscribers to keep a record of the content and the receivers of the messages for a year to be presented to any national authority when required. The high cost of the permit and its terms led rights organizations to interpret it as a violation of freedom of expression and an attempt by the government to keep opposition groups from using the service to publicize for their events and news. The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE) challenged the decision in court after it was announced. It said the decree lacked legal legitimacy and broke many international human rights charters that protect people's rights to circulate information through different channels including mobile messages. AFTE issued a statement celebrating the ruling and calling for more improvement in the area of information circulation in Egypt. “AFTE considers this ruling to be an important victory for the freedom to circulate information in Egypt which has been systematically violated by government bodies, either positively by issuing administrative decisions to hinder this freedom or passively by not issuing a law that organizes and protects the freedom to circulate information.”
