Latest posts by sami ben gharbia from October, 2007
Morocco: Stop Internet Censorship!
In March of 2006, Livejournal, the popular blogging site, was blocked by the state-controlled telecommunications provider Maroc Telecom (a subsidiary of Vivendi International), depriving Moroccan citizens of access to the roughly 2 million blogs the service hosts. On May 25, 2007, Maroc Telecom blocked access to YouTube for few days. In August 2006, Google Earth was added to the list of major websites being blocked. And as expected, Maroc Telecom didn’t give any justification for this instance of censorship.
Syrian blogger Roukana Hamour has been Kidnapped
Update: Last night (October 26), we've received a call from Rokana Hamour. She is fine. She has been interrogated by the Syrian Security Services about a comment left on her blog. Rokana was released three hours later. We've received an email that appeared to come from someone who witnessed the...
Kazakhstan blocks opposition websites
On October 18, 2007, Kazakhstan has blocked access to a number of independent websites switching off main opposition outlets including kub.kz, geo.kz, zonakz.net and inkar.info [more on GV Advocacy…]
Bahrain blocks Haq political movement website
A Press Release issued on October 12th by the HAQ: Movement of Liberties and Democracy- Bahrain, which Global Voices Advocacy received a copy of it, reveals that Bahrain has blocked access to its electronic website.
Syria: more victims of Internet repression
A new report released by Human Rights Watch reveals that two persons are being held in incommunicado detention at an undisclosed location in Syria. Karim ‘Arbaji (29) and Tarek Biasi (22) were arrested in June 2007 by Syrian Military Intelligence for expressing online views critical of the Syrian government. A...
Free Speech Roundup: China, UAE, Jordan, Iran and more
Two interesting documents related to Internet censorship and circumvention were published recently: “Everyone's Guide to By-Passing Internet Censorship for Citizens Worldwide”, released by The University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab and a “Journey to the Heart of Internet censorship” in China, released by RSF and Chinese Human Rights Defenders, and written by an anonymous Chinese technician. In Jordan sending emails and writing online poems can send you to jail. And, is Facebook blocked in the United Arab Emirates?
Jordan: sending emails and writing online poems can send you to prison!
[More on GV Advocacy…] Ahmad Oweidi al-Abbadi, the 62-year-old former parliamentarian and leader of the Jordanian National Movement, was sentenced to two years in prison for “undermining state dignity”, “sending false news through emails” and “illegally distributing leaflets.” Mohammed Al-Zohairi, or “Al Qaeda Poet” , has been sentenced to 18...
Facebook blocked in the United Arab Emirates?
[More on GV Advocacy…] According to Download Squad, access to the popular social networking website Facebook has been blocked in the United Arab Emirates…
Belarus: Give Lukashenko his LuNet!
When the Belarusian activist Dzianis Dzianisau was detained for nearly two months on charges of “taking part in manifestations which disturb public order”, the Belarusian blogsphere successfully organized an online (and offline) campaign to raise the bail (15.500.000 Belarusian roubles or $7,300) and got the young political prisoner out of...
sami ben gharbia's space
I'm the co-founder of several Tunisian online projects:
Nawaat (The Core)
