Blogging in Egypt

Egypt is one of blogging's greatest examples. Violence against women in Egypt has infiltrated the majority of mainstream programming, and the social influence has become both evident and increasingly hostile. Women have complained over such negative connotations and organizations have held meetings to confront it but to no avail. When women could not get the media programs to shift their stance fast enough, they simply took the media into their own hands. Now thousands of blogs are pouring out of Egypt.

However, despite the Egyptian government's amendment of The Press Act last year, journalists continue to face harsh censorship and brutal intimidation. Just this past February, 22-year-old Kareem Amer was sentenced to four years in prison for his blogging. He was a law student who worked for human rights and the gender equality in Egypt and his detainment has set off a firestorm of both international criticism and domestic fear for other journalists. Amer is but one of many Egyptian bloggers that have been harassed and arrested on such charges as "defaming the president of Egypt" although Amer carries the heaviest sentence so far. The Egyptian Interior Ministry has even set up a special unit to go after cyber-dissidents called the Department for Confronting Computer and Internet Crime.
(Please read "Bloggers Against Torture" by Neger Azimi in The Nation.)