Human Rights Watch Website Temporarily Blocked at Egypt the Future Conference  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

A screenshot shows that Human Rights Watch website is blocked in Egypt for wifi users at the “Egypt the Future” Conference held in Sharm El Sheikh. Photograph shared by @S_Elwardany on Twitter
A block on Human Rights Watch website was lifted at an economic conference in Egypt after a journalist raised the alarm on Twitter.
Egyptian journalist Salma Elwardany tweeted to her 80K followers on Twitter that Human Rights Watch website was blocked at the Egypt Economic Development Conference, also known as Egypt the Future, which ended in Sharm El Sheikh yesterday:
Human rights watch website blocked on Egypt the future conference wifi pic.twitter.com/t25FwATJGE
— Salma Elwardany (@S_Elwardany) March 15, 2015
She noted:
Says “the URL is banned based on the EEDC policy” #pt
— Salma Elwardany (@S_Elwardany) March 15, 2015
During the three-day conference, billions of dollars were pledged in support of Egypt's economy. But many were concerned that the blocking of websites and censorship may well be in the future plans of Egypt too.
Elwardany later tweeted that the site was back up:
Human rights watch website is working now on EEDC wifi pic.twitter.com/W01D92z2qy
— Salma Elwardany (@S_Elwardany) March 15, 2015
And added:
I'll delete the original tweet since hrw is now working on EEDC wifi and organizers say it was a technical issue and now it's back up
— Salma Elwardany (@S_Elwardany) March 15, 2015
Recently, Egypt announced that it has formed a committee to look into ways to block websites related to “terrorism,” reported Ahram Online. It said:
Egypt's premier Ibrahim Mahlab is forming a committee to study possible amendments to national security laws in order to remove websites linked to “terrorism”, cabinet spokesperson Hossam Kawish has told Ahram Online.
The committee's recommendations will help courts to issue verdicts to remove any content on the Internet that is related to “terrorism”, Kawish explained.
The report added:
In early February, Egypt called on the international community to “monitor extremist websites that incite violence and terrorism, and to halt broadcasting channels linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.”