6 Sep 2018 | Campaigns -- Featured, Digital Freedom, Digital Freedom Statements, Egypt, Statements
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]We, the undersigned, call for the immediate repeal of the Anti-Cyber and Information Technology Crimes Law (“The Cybercrime Law”), as well as the review and reform of articles on internet surveillance and blocking of websites in the law on the regulation of the press and media (“The Media Regulation Law”).
The Cybercrime Law and the Media Regulation Law are only the latest steps in the Egyptian government’s attempt to impose full control over the flow of information online, as part of an effort to close the space for public debate and prevent the exercise of the fundamental right to freedom of expression. These actions must be opposed in order to defend Egyptians’ human rights.
Background
On 18 August, 2018, President Sisi ratified the Anti-Cyber and Information Technology Crimes Law (Cybercrime Law). The Egyptian parliament had already approved the law on 5 July, granting the government new powers to restrict digital rights and interfere with activists’ freedoms online. Only last month, the parliament also passed another dangerous law (the Media Regulation Law) that would place under government regulation and supervision as member of the media anyone with a social media account that has more than 5,000 followers.
Egyptian authorities have a recent history of escalating attempts to restrict online freedoms. On 24 May 2017, Egypt began to block websites, mostly media related, on a mass scale; the number of blocked websites so far totals more than 500. Apart from an order to block 33 websites issued by the government committee that appraised and seized the funds of members of a banned Muslim Brotherhood group, it is unclear on what basis the other websites have been blocked. No decision has been published, whether by the courts or government departments, and no reasons have been provided as to why those websites ought to be blocked. Numerous attempts have been made to get the government to disclose the legal basis for blocking, and a number of lawsuits have been filed before the administrative judiciary.
Now, the ratification of the Cybercrime Law appears to be an attempt by the government to legalize the repressive steps it took more than a year ago, providing full authority for internet censorship.
The Cybercrime Law also authorizes the mass surveillance of communications in Egypt. Under the law, ISPs are required to keep and store customer usage data for a period of 180 days, including data that enables user identification, data regarding content of the information system, and data related to the equipment used. This means that ISPs have the data related to all user activities, including phone calls and text messages, websites visited, and applications used on smartphones and computers. The National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) can also issue an administrative decision obliging telecommunications companies to save “other data” without specifying what it is, and without stipulating it in the law.
National security entities (defined by the law as: Presidency, Armed Forces, Ministry of the Interior, General Intelligence, and Administrative Control Authority) were also granted the right to access and review the data referred to in the preceding paragraph. ISPs are also obliged to provide the “technical capabilities” to those entities.
This approach to impose mass surveillance on all users in Egypt is contrary to Article 57 of the Egyptian Constitution, which states: “Private life is inviolable, safeguarded and may not be infringed upon. Telegraph, postal, and electronic correspondence, telephone calls, and other forms of communication are inviolable, their confidentiality is guaranteed, and they may only be confiscated, examined or monitored by causal judicial order, for a limited period, and in cases specified by the law.” Egypt has also signed and ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and must follow the guidance of the Human Rights Committee, the only official body charged with interpreting the treaty.
In addition, the law regulating the work of the press and media, the Media Regulation Law, which the President ratified on September 1, 2018, expands the power to censor individuals’ personal accounts on social media, if the account has at least 5,000 followers. The Supreme Media Regulatory Council has the right to block those accounts if it believes that they publish or broadcast false news, incite a violation of the law, violence or hatred, discriminate between citizens, or advocate racism or intolerance.
Call to action
The Cybercrime Law and the Media Regulation Law threaten the fundamental rights of Egyptians. They are overbroad, disproportionate attempts to give the government full control over cyberspace. Therefore, to protect Egyptians’ human rights, preserve the public domain, and keep open any space for exercising freedom of expression, the undersigned call on the Egyptian government to immediately repeal the Cybercrime Law and reform the Media Regulation Law.
Signed, a coalition of some of the world’s leading human rights and digital rights organisations from 25 countries,
7amleh – Arab Center for Social Media Advancement
7iber
Access Now
Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB)
Article 19
Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE)
Association for Progressive Communications (APC)
Bahrain Centre for Human Rights
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
Community Media Solutions
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
Democratic Transition and Human Rights Support Center (DAAM)
Derechos Digitales
Digital Rights Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Electronic Frontier Finland
Epicenter.works
Euromed Rights
Fight for the Future
Global Voices Advox
Gulf Centre for Human Rights
Humano Derecho Radio Estación
I’lam – Arab Center for Media Freedom Development and Research
i freedom Uganda Network
Index on Censorship
Internet Sans Frontieres
Kenya ICT Action Network
Fundación Karisma
Maharat Foundation
Majal.org
Motoon.org
DDHH Redes Ayuda
Open Media
Point of View India
REPORTERS SANS FRONTIÈRES / REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
Social Media Exchange (SMEX)
Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression
Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC)
Turkey Blocks
The Syrian Archive
Visualizing Impact
WITNESS
Xnet – Internet Freedoms[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”12″ style=”load-more” items_per_page=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1536246503666-e8c5e4e3-31d6-5″ taxonomies=”147″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
31 Aug 2018 | Bahrain, News and features
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/HNYN5IHfDgE”][vc_column_text][socialpug_tweet tweet=”Happy Birthday @NABEELRAJAB! Bahrain must #FreeNabeel #OpinionsAreNotCrimes!” display_tweet=”Happy Birthday @NABEELRAJAB! Bahrain must #FreeNabeel #OpinionsAreNotCrimes!” remove_username=”yes”][/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Have you expressed disapproval of your government? Called for more democratic decision-making in your country? Criticised prison conditions or criticised a country allied with your government? Retweeted a comment that included #opinionsarenotcrimes?
You are a criminal. You could be facing up to 15 years in prison for simply expressing your point of view if you lived in Bahrain.
Nabeel Rajab, just like you, thinks his country could be better. And he has made those views public. He speaks out against poor prison conditions and argues for more freedom of speech in Bahrain.
Friday 1 September 2018, marks his third birthday in prison, where he has been since 13 June 2016. He has been subjected to harsh treatment in often appalling conditions that have exacerbated his health issues.
Rajab is in prison for tweets and retweets about the war in Yemen in 2015, for which he is charged with “disseminating false rumours in time of war” (Article 133 of the Bahraini Criminal Code) and “insulting a neighboring country” (Article 215 of the Bahraini Criminal Code), and for tweeting about torture in Jau prison, which resulted in a charge of “insulting a statutory body” (Article 216 of the Bahraini Criminal Code).
What’s worse, it’s just the latest in a long line of actions taken by the Bahraini government against Rajab, one of the Middle East’s most prominent human rights defenders.
Rajab has been subjected to ongoing judicial harassment, physical intimidation and imprisonment for his non-violent advocacy of democracy and for his calls for an end to endemic corruption. Police officers have beat him up, the country’s press have published the government’s accusations against without his side of the story. He has been imprisoned, pardoned, banned from travelling, rearrested and held in solitary confinement.
Nabeel Rajab, BCHR – winner of Bindmans Award for Advocacy at the Index Freedom of Expression Awards 2012 with then-Chair of the Index on Censorship board of trustees Jonathan Dimbleby.
Despite the huge personal cost to himself and his family, Rajab continues to speak out.
His activism began during protests in the 1990s and grew with his involvement with the Bahrain Human Rights Society, which he helped found in 2000.
In 2002 he partnered with Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who is now serving a life sentence for his human rights work, and others to launch the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, which was awarded an Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award in 2012. BCHR has consistently spoken out for non-violent resistance and the peaceful struggle for social justice, democracy and human rights.
Rajab has also been outspoken in working for the protection of the Gulf’s migrant workers, founding, in 2003, one of the first committees in the region to advocate improved conditions for them.
When the Arab Spring swept across the Middle East in 2011, Rajab participated in the pro-democracy protests that were focused on the Pearl Roundabout in the country’s capital Manana. His vocal criticism of human rights violations and outspokenness — even after the government issued a state of emergency and invited foreign intervention to help maintain control — brought him into frequent conflict with security forces.
Born 1 September 1964 to a middle-class family, he went to university in India to study politics, before returning to work in Bahrain. Rajab is married and has two children. He is a nephew of Mohamed Hasan Jawad, one of the “Bahrain 13” — political figures imprisoned for participating in the Arab Spring protests, and a cousin of Hussain Jawad, a prominent human rights activist arrested in February 2015.[/vc_column_text][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”12″ style=”load-more” items_per_page=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1535714923645-bfdcebc4-5f38-6″ taxonomies=”3368″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
23 Aug 2018 | Bahrain, Bahrain Letters, Campaigns -- Featured, Statements
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Dear Your Majesty,
My name is Ali Mushaima, and I am writing to ask Your Majesty to help me save the life of my 70-year-old father, Hassan Mushaima, who is now paying a harsh price for demanding human rights and democratic change in Bahrain in 2011.
The deep relations between Buckingham Palace and its Bahraini counterpart have been celebrated on many occasions. Your Majesty has now played host to King Hamad of Bahrain at the Royal Windsor Horse Show for several years, even offering him the privilege of a seat next to Your Majesty during the event. Last year, Your Majesty gifted King Hamad a three-year-old Arabian stallion, Hamdani Ra’ad, thereby publicly declaring the strength of your personal relationship with the Bahraini Royal family. I am sure that your gift is now receiving the best possible care in Bahrain; regrettably, this is not a luxury afforded to political prisoners. My father is not even entitled to enjoy his basic human rights while he is unfairly rotting in infamous Jau Prison.
The total indifference my father’s case has received from both the Bahraini Government and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has left me with no choice but to follow my father’s firm commitment to peaceful protest. Today, I am sitting outside the Bahraini Embassy in Belgrave Square, only half a mile away from Buckingham Palace, preparing myself to enter the 21st day of my hunger strike to protest his inhumane treatment.
I start each day by walking to Victoria Station to bathe, before returning to the site of my protest which, so far, has done little to improve my father’s prison condition. After 20 days, I am deeply disappointed that my simple requests have fallen on deaf ears. Life imprisonment is not considered cruel enough by those who seek to silence my father, as it appears that the Bahraini government deem the dignity and well-being of a human less worthy than that of a horse.
The Bahraini authorities are now slowly but deliberately killing him by denying him access to vital medical care. My father suffers a number of serious chronic illnesses, including erratic blood pressure and diabetes, and is also a survivor of lymphoma cancer. On a daily basis, he is required to take a variety of medications to stabilise these conditions. Without them, his life is at risk. Since 2016, however, the government has prevented him from seeing an oncologist to determine whether his lymphoma cancer has returned, despite the need for screenings every six months.
These life-threatening measures add to the humiliation my father is constantly subjected to. My father has not seen his family since February 2017, as authorities have punished political prisoners specifically by imposing further degrading restrictions on healthcare, family visits and access to books. Political prisoners are forcibly chained and shackled if they want to see their beloved ones. My father, however, refused to accept these demeaning conditions.
My doctor has expressed serious concerns about my considerable weight loss. Nonetheless, my frustrations have led me to explore more extreme avenues: I will go on a full hunger strike by sacrificing my intake of vital sugars (through juice), despite the risks this entails for my own health, if the Bahraini authorities do not meet my demands by next week.
This week I will be celebrating Eid in Belgrave Square rather than at home, with my beloved wife and 4-months-old daughter. While I will only be denied the comfort of home on this special day, at least I will be celebrating as a free man. My father, instead, is being forced to spend yet another Eid behind bars and separated from his family, who he has not seen for over 18 months, a basic right that seems to have become a privilege.
I would like to ask Your Majesty to use the influence and strong friendship with the King of Bahrain to help me save my father. All I ask for is for him to be treated humanely, including access to adequate medical treatment, books, and family visitation without subjecting him to humiliating measures.
To end, I hope Your Majesty makes it clear to their Bahraini King that the rights and dignity of a human being are non-negotiable, and that the United Kingdom’s strong commitment to these principles goes far beyond historical ties and so will not be compromised.
Your Sincerely,
Ali Mushaima
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