Cairo: 17 July, 2019
Due to the almost complete control the state, its apparatus and “the affiliate or state-backed companies” have over media in Egypt, there is no longer any room for expressing opinions or criticism except through social networking websites, most notably Facebook.
Therefore, it is obvious that Facebook has become the most website that is kept under control and surveillance by the government, and the most website whose users are facing police prosecution; to punish them for their criticisms and comments and for expressing their views.
This was tackled in a report released today by the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) under the title “Mutual hostility, Facebook and the Egyptian government… On the prosecution and detention because of a post”. The report involves samples and examples of opinion-related cases pressed against Facebook users for using their right to express their views or criticize the country’s general situation and the government’s practices in Egypt, which led most prisoners of conscience in Egypt to become victims of a Facebook post or comment.
This brief report includes 15 examples of cases of detention against Facebook users, in which they are punished with prosecution, receiving threats and protracted pretrial detention, and even with imprisonment for many years. Such a matter constitutes a continuation of the country of fear created by the regime, and an attempt to crack down on the last scope for freedom of expression; which is “Facebook”, after the state and its apparatus have seized their control on the traditional media.
You can check the full report through the following link:
