My personal blog is at [fikra] فكرة (which means idea in Arabic). I'm the co-founder of nawaat, a Tunisian collective blog about news and politics, Cybversion a collective blog of documenting censorship in Tunisia and babtounes, a wordpress twitter client monitoring live tweets about Tunisia.
I'm formerly Global Voices Advocacy Director.
Latest posts by sami ben gharbia
Introducing Threatened Voices
Today, Global Voices Advocacy is launching a new website called Threatened Voices to help track suppression of free speech online. It features a world map and an interactive timeline that help visualize the story of threats and arrests against bloggers worldwide, and it is a central platform to gather information from the most dedicated organisations and activists.
Moroccan Blogger acquitted by appeals court
Moroccan Blogger Mohammed Erraji has been acquitted by appeals court and is now free.
Tunisia's ban on Facebook lifted
The ban on the popular social networking website Facebook has been lifted in Tunisia since yesterday 3 September 2008 after a massive protest by Tunisian Netizens. Tens of Facebook groups...
Silencing online speech in Tunisia
Blocking web 2.0 websites (Youtube, Dailymotion, Facebook) and barring access to local outspoken websites and blogs is the most obvious way of cracking down of the online free speech in Tunisia. It should be emphasized, however, that this is only one tool in the regime’s hand. Tunisia has adapted to the web 2.0 revolution by developing a broader strategy composed of a wide range of instruments
Turkey: Dailymotion blocked
Access to the french video-sharing website Dailymotion.com has been blocked in Turkey since August 2nd 2008. According to Erkan Saka, an Istanbul-based blogger, “the decision to ban the site came...
Egypt: Blogger Kareem El Beheiry released
Egyptian blogger Kareem El Beheiry has been released yesterday from prison. Kareem was arrested by Egyptian police in connection with the April 6th strike in support of the textile workers...
Egypt: leading opposition website blocked
According to the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, the website of the leading Egyptian Movement for Change – Kefaya, has been blocked in Egypt since May 4 by the...
Syria Blocks the Arabic Wikipedia
According to anasonline blog, access to Wikipedia Arabic, the Arabic language version of the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia, is now blocked by all ISPs in Syria.
Egypt: Facebooking the Struggle
After little less than a month following the April 6 strike, during which a number of prominent Egyptian bloggers and internet activists were arrested, preparations for the next round of a planned general strike to mark the 80th birthday of President Mubarak, on May 4, 2008, are currently spreading all over the blogosphere and the Internet. Blogger and activist Nora Younis shares some of her ideas with us about the role of Internet in Egypt as a platform for political activism.
Saudi Arabia: Blogger Fouad Alfarhan Released
Prominent Saudi blogger Fouad Alfarhan was freed today. He is back home in Jeddah after 137 days in custody.
Egyptian activists released
Two Egyptian activists, Esraa Abdel Fattah Ahmed, who launched the “6 April” Facebook group and blogger Mohamed Sharkawy, have been released. Both Esraa and Sharkawy were arrested on 5 April...
Indonesia Lifts Ban on YouTube
Indonesia has lifted the ban on Youtube.com. Internet service providers “would only block access to pages carrying the film by Geert Wilders” The vice chairman of the Indonesian Internet Providers...
Free Speech Roundup: Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Yemen
The Indonesian government has ordered the country’s internet service providers to block YouTube over “Fitna” the movie. In Saudi Arabia, the blog of the detained Saudi blogger Fouad Alfarhan was blocked, along with the Free Fouad website, which is dedicated to Alfarhan's case. In Turkey, a Turkish court banned access to Slide, the maker of social networking widgets, for “harboring pictures and articles that are considered to be insulting to Ataturk.”. And Yemen blocks Maktoob blogging platform cutting off Yemeni Internet users from the more than 46,960 blogs the service hosts.
Saudi Arabia: Fouad al-Farhan's blog and Freefouad blocked
The blog of the detained Saudi blogger Fouad al-Farhan has been blocked today in Saudi Arabia, along with Freefouad blog.
Indonesia threatens to block YouTube over “Fitna” the movie
Indonesia is threatening to block Youtube unless the video-sharing web site removes the 15 minutes anti-Muslim film “Fitna” made by the Dutch MP Geert Wilders, the leader of the anti-immigration...
Slide blocked in Turkey
A Turkish court banned access to Slide, the maker of social networking widgets, for “harboring pictures and articles that are considered to be insulting to Ataturk”.
Yemen blocks Maktoob blogging platform
Maktoobblog.com, one of the most popular Arab blogging platform, has been recently blocked in Yemen cutting off Yemeni Internet users from the more than 46960 blogs the service hosts. According...
Tunisia: relentless campaign against imprisoned blogger and journalist Slim Boukhdhir
In the last few weeks, Slim Boukhdhir, the 39-year old imprisoned blogger and journalist, is reported to have been subjected to an unusual level of harassment by prison authorities where he is serving the one-year sentence imposed by a Tunisian court on December 4th, 2007. His wife, Dalenda Boukhdhir, told Global Voices that the prison authorities placed Slim in “dry cell” for three days, from 20-23 March, 2008, turning off the water in his cell so he couldn't wash.
Guide: Bloguer pour une cause !
Global Voices Advocacy is pleased to announce the translation into French of its second guide "Blog for a Cause!", thanks to Claire Ulrich from Global Voices en Français. Blog for a Cause! has already been translated into Spanish; the translation into Arabic, Chinese and Bengali is on the way.
Morocco: Fouad Mourtada free
Fouad Mourtada, the 26-year old IT engineer who has been arrested on February 5th, 2008 and sentenced to three years in prison and a fine of $1350 for creating a...
EU: Towards a European Global Online Freedom Act
The European Parliament has passed a proposal (571 in favor, 38 against) to treat Internet censorship by national governments as a trade barrier. The proposal was submitted by European Parliament member (MEP) Jules Maaten of the Dutch conservative VVD party. The proposal will now pass to the European Council. If adopted as a European Union (EU) law, the proposal could have an impact on future trade negotiations between the EU and governments engaged in Internet censorship.
sami ben gharbia's space
I'm the co-founder of several Tunisian online projects:
Nawaat (The Core)
