Digital Media Law Project - Egypt

Egyptian Security Police Detain Blogger and Graduate Student Philip Rizk

Sam Bayard — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:10:02 +0000

Reuters, the LA Times, and the International Herald Tribune report that Egyptian state security police detained blogger Philip Rizk on Friday night, when he was returning to Cairo after a march to raise awareness about conditions in the Gaza Strip. Rizk is a graduate student in the Middle East Studies program at the American University in Cairo, a political activist, and documentary filmmaker, and he blogs about Palestinian issues on his blog tabula gaza.

The authorities are holding Philip without formal charge, a common practice in the Egyptian state security system. His whereabouts were completely unknown until Sunday night, when friends and supporters were able to determine that he was being held in state security headquarters in downtown Cairo. Egyptian state security police are notorious for torturing detainees during interrogation.

Although the authorities arrested Philip on his way back from a political rally, this may not have been the key motivation for his detention. According to the Herald Tribune, the police did not detain his fellow protestors and targeted Rizk by name when they pulled over his minibus. One suspects that Rizk's blogging may have made him a target:

Rizk contributed to a blog about the Gaza Strip that includes recent postings about the 22-day Israeli military offensive against the territory's Hamas rulers. Some of the postings criticized the Egyptian government's response, accusing it of allowing only small numbers of injured Palestinians to cross into Egypt for medical treatment. (IHT)

The Egyptian government is particularly sensitive to criticism on this point. The majority of Egyptians undoubtedly support and sympathize with the Palestinians who face of a terrible humanitarian crisis, while Mubarak's regime fears that opening the Egyptian border will ease the pressure on Hamas, which controls Gaza. (Why Mubarak opposes Hamas is a long story, but the short explanation is that Islamist governments make him nervous.)

Sadly, this is not the first time -- not by a long shot (see, for example, here, here, here, and here) -- that the Egyptian authorities have used detention without charge as a weapon of censorship.

Rizk holds dual Egyptian-German citizenship. Both the German embassy and AUC officials are working to clarify the situation, according to the Herald Tribune. Philip's parents filed a complaint with the prosecutor’s office in downtown Cairo yesterday. See the facebook page, Support and Prayer for the Safe Release of Philip Rizk, for updates and information about how to help.

2/11/09 Update: The BBC reports that Egyptian authorities have freed Philip Rizk.

Jurisdiction:

Egypt

Subject Area:

Censorship

Neuwirth v. Silverstein

DMLP Staff — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 17:32:44 +0000

Threat Type:

Lawsuit

Party Receiving Legal Threat:

Richard Silverstein; Joel Beinin

Date:

06/29/2007

Type of Party:

Individual

Status:

Pending

Type of Party:

Individual

Disposition:

Dismissed (partial)

Location of Party:

California

Location:

California

Jurisdiction:

California

Location of Party:

California
Washington
Egypt

Legal Counsel:

Charles L. Fonarow

Source of Law:

California

Verdict or Settlement Amount:

N/A

Legal Claims:

Defamation

Court Name:

California Superior Court, Los Angeles County; Court of Appeal of the State of California, Second Appellate District

Legal Counsel:

Janis White; Lane Powell; Suman Chakraborty (for Silverstein); Steven J. Freeburg (for Beinin)

Court Type:

State

In June 2007, Rachel Neuwirth, a journalist and political commentator who espouses strongly pro-Israel views, sued Washington-state blogger Richard Silverstein and university professor Joel Beinin for libel in a California state court. On November 27, 2007, the court... read full description

Case Number:

SC 094441 (trial level); B205521 (appellate level)

Web Site(s) Involved:

Tikun Olam: Make the World a Better Place

alef - Academic Left

Relevant Documents:

2007-11-27-Ruling - Neuwirth v. Silverstein.doc

2009-02-09-Appellate Decision in Neuwirth v. Silverstein.pdf

2010-07-19-Superior Court Order.pdf

Content Type:

Text

Neuwirth, a journalist and political commentator who espouses staunchly pro-Israel views, sued over two allegedly defamatory statements, one made by Silverstein on his blog, Tikun Olam, and the other made by Beinin on a listserv and subsequently re-published by Silverstein. In the first statement, Silverstein called Neuwirth a "Kahanist swine." The term "Kahanist" refers to a form of right-wing, religious Zionism, one of the central tenets of which is that all Arab Muslims are enemies of Israel. The Israeli Kahane Chai (Kach) party is barred from participating in Israeli elections and listed as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, Canada, and the European Union. Neuwirth argued that, by calling her a "Kahanist swine," Silverstein implied that she was a terrorist. The second statement was Beinin's, made on the "Alef" listserv, claiming that Neuwirth had made a death threat to him. Silverstein subsequently re-posted Beinin's statement on his blog.

In granting the motion to strike, the court determined that the anti-SLAPP statute applied because Silverstein and Beinin made their respective statements in a "public forum" and those statements related to an issue of public interest. The burden then shifted to Neuwirth to demonstrate a probability that she would prevail on her claim. The court found that Neuwirth had not met this burden, holding that she was a limited purpose public figure and noting that she had brought forth no evidence of "actual malice" for either of the two statements. With regard to Silverstein's "Kahanist swine" statement, the court further held that this was a non-actionable statement of opinion.

Finally, the court held that Neuwirth's claim against Silverstein for re-publishing Beinin's statement was barred by CDA 230, which protects providers of interactive computer services from tort liability for publishing the statements or content of third parties.

The court awarded Beinin $1,840 in attorney's fees and indicated that Silverstein should make his claim for attorney's fees in a separate motion. At the conclusion of the hearing in which the court delivered its decision, Neuwirth's attorney told the court that his client intended to appeal the ruling.

Update:

1/25/08 - Neuwirth filed a notice of appeal.

3/4/08 - The court ordered Neuwirth to pay Silverstein $7000 in attorneys fees pursuant to the anti-SLAPP statute.

2/9/2009 - The Court of Appeal of the State of California, Second Appellate District, reversed the trial court's ruling on the motion to strike, reinstating the claims against Silverstein and Beinin, except for the claim against Silverstein for re-publishing Beinin's statement.

7/19/2010 - Superior Court order denying Silverstein's motion for summary judgment, holding, inter alia, that "the law of the case doctrine requires this Court to find that Plaintiff has established the existence of libel per se."

(NOTE: Joel Beinin is the Director of Middle East Studies at the American University in Cairo, where one of the authors of this database entry attended graduate school.)

Publication Medium:

Blog

Subject Area:

Defamation
SLAPP
Third-Party Content
Section 230

Egypt v. Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suliman

DMLP Staff — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 15:09:29 +0000

Party Issuing Legal Threat:

Public Prosecutor, Egypt

Threat Type:

Criminal Charge

Party Receiving Legal Threat:

Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suliman, a.k.a. Kareem Amer

Date:

11/06/2006

Type of Party:

Government

Status:

Pending

Type of Party:

Individual

Disposition:

Verdict (plaintiff)

Location of Party:

Egypt

Location:

Egypt

Jurisdiction:

Egypt

Location of Party:

Egypt

Source of Law:

Egypt

Verdict or Settlement Amount:

N/A

Legal Claims:

Criminal Libel

Other

Court Name:

Maharram Beik Misdemeanor Court (Alexandria, Egypt); Court of Appeal (Alexandria)

Legal Counsel:

Gamal Abdul Aziz Eid, Rawda Ahmed Said, Ahmed Seif al-Islam

Court Type:

International

CMLP Notes:

Details are sketchy due to lack of available court documents. Continue to monitor on (theoretical) appeal. {MCS 09/14/07}

Status checked on 6/3/2008, no new information (AAB)

Status checked on 2/19/2009 -VAF (no new information re: a possible appeal)

Case Number:

Case No. 6677 of 2006

Web Site(s) Involved:

Kareem's blog (posts in Arabic)

Kareem's page on Modern Discussion (posts in Arabic)

Copts United

Relevant Documents:

2007-00-00-Defense Memorandum (Mohrram Beik court).doc

Content Type:

Text

Egyptian law student Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suliman ("Kareem"), using the psuedonym Kareem Amer, posted a series of articles critizing the Islamic faith, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and Al-Azhar University to his blog and websites, Modern Discussion and Copts United. He was first arrested for his posts in October 2005, at which time he was detained for 12 days and forced to surrender his books and some personal articles and writings. In March 2006, Kareem was expelled from Al-Azahar University because of his posts. (For more information on the expulsion, see the CMLP database entry, Al-Azhar University v. Abdul Kareem Nabeel.)

Al-Azhar informed the Public Prosecutor's Office in Alexandria of Kareem's writings. On November 06, 2006, Kareem was arrested. When he refused to recant, he was held in solitary confinement until he could face trial. He was charged with three basic crimes: contempt for religion (both generally and Islam in particular), defaming President Mubarak, and disrupting public order.

On Feb. 22, 2007 in Maharram Beik Court, after what reports have described as only five minutes of consideration, Kareem was was sentenced to four years in prison for his speech -- three years for contempt of religion and one year for defaming Mubarak. The charges relating to alleged disruptions of public order were dropped.

On March 12, 2007, the Court of Appeals in Alexandria upheld Kareem's conviction and four-year sentence. The court also approved a civil claim brought by a group of Egyptian lawyers seeking to fine Kareem for "insulting Islam."

Status:

Several sources, including freekareem.org, have reported that Kareem's lawyers intend to appeal the case to the Court of Cassation, Egypt's highest appeals court.

Publication Medium:

Blog

Website

Subject Area:

Censorship
Defamation
Criminal

Al-Azhar University v. Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suliman

DMLP Staff — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 03:08:20 +0000

Threat Type:

Disciplinary Action

Party Receiving Legal Threat:

Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suliman, a.k.a. Kareem Amer

Date:

03/14/2006

Type of Party:

School

Status:

Concluded

Type of Party:

Individual

Disposition:

Verdict (plaintiff)

Location of Party:

Egypt

Location:

Egypt

Jurisdiction:

Egypt

Location of Party:

Egypt

Source of Law:

Egypt

Verdict or Settlement Amount:

N/A

Legal Claims:

Defamation

Web Site(s) Involved:

Kareem's blog (posts in Arabic)

Kareem's page on Modern Discussion (posts in Arabic)

Copts United

Content Type:

Text

Egyptian law student Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suliman ("Kareem"), using the psuedonym Kareem Amer, posted a series of articles critizing the Islamic faith, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and Al-Azhar University to his blog and websites, Modern Discussion and Copts United. Some of his posts critized the operations of Al-Azhar, where he was then a student, for its allegedly strict religious policies and gender discrimination. In October 2005 he was arrested and detained by Egyptian police for his postings, but he ultimately was released without criminal charge.

On March 14, 2006, Kareem was called before a discipinary panel at Al-Azhar University, Damanhour Campus. According to Kareem's blog (partially translated into English), he was accused of defaming the university and libeling the Grand Imam (the head of the Supreme Council that runs Al-Azhar). Kareem did not deny that he had written the posts and did not apologize, instead asserting a right to critize the university. Days later, Kareem was expelled from Al-Azhar.

The university submitted copies of Kareem's blog posts to the Egyptian government, which ultimately led to criminal charges being brought against him. In Feb. 2007, Kareem was sentenced to four years in prison. (For more information and continuing developments, see the CMLP database entry, Egypt v. Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suliman).

Publication Medium:

Blog

Subject Area:

Censorship
Defamation
Student Speech

YouTube Suspends Account of Prominent Egyptian Blogger and Anti-Torture Activist

Sam Bayard — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:10:26 +0000

I've blogged before about Wael Abbas, an Egyptian blogger and political activist who has gained renown by, among other things, posting videos on YouTube revealing brutal scenes of torture from inside Egypt's police stations. According to Reuters Africa, YouTube has recently suspended Abbas's account due to complaints about the content of his postings:

Wael Abbas said close to 100 images he had sent to YouTube were no longer accessible, including clips depicting purported police brutality, voting irregularities and anti-government demonstrations. YouTube, owned by search engine giant Google Inc., did not respond to a written request for comment. A message on Abbas's YouTube user page, http://youtube.com/user/waelabbas, read: "This account is suspended."
"They closed it (the account) and they sent me an e-mail saying that it will be suspended because there were lots of complaints about the content, especially the content of torture," Abbas told Reuters in a telephone interview. Abbas, who won an international journalism award for his work this year, said that of the images he had posted to YouTube, 12 or 13 depicted violence in Egyptian police stations.

Elijah Zarwan, a human rights activist and blogger living in Egypt (and a personal friend), told Reuters that he found it unlikely that YouTube had come under official Egyptian pressure, and was more likely reacting to the graphic nature of the videos.

I wonder if the people making account-suspension decisions at YouTube realize that they're blocking an important distribution channel for some of the most important journalistic work to come out of Egypt in years. It would be a shame if this is happening because of some squeamish and/or paternalistic YouTube users who can't be content to simply turn their own eyes away. Then again, that's slightly less disturbing than YouTube caving in to Egyptian government pressure. I'll keep my eyes on this one.

Jurisdiction:

Egypt

Content Type:

Video

Subject Area:

Censorship

Bloggers Expose Torture in Egypt

Sam Bayard — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 18:22:12 +0000

The San Francisco Chronicle has an interesting article today about Egyptian bloggers posting cell phone videos to document endemic police torture in their country (thanks to 3arabawy for the tip). The most recent iteration of this phenomenon is a clip of a thirteen-year-old boy from Mansoura who died from injuries inflicted in police custody after he was arrested for stealing a few bags of tea a week earlier:

The explicit 13-minute clip is the latest of some dozen amateur videos - mostly from cell phone cameras - that have surfaced on blogs within the past year, showing systematic torture in Egyptian police stations. The videos have thrust a once rarely mentioned subject onto the front pages of Cairo newspapers.
Some activists hope the incriminating videos will spur a wave of reforms within the justice system.

"Activists that have worked to end torture have told me: 'You've done more in a few days what we were not able to do in 10 years,'" said Wael Abbas, a 32-year-old Egyptian blogger, who recently received the 2007 Knight International Journalism Award by the International Center for Journalists in Washington for posting police torture videos on his Web site.

It's encouraging to see the continued influence of bloggers on the mainstream press in Egypt, but it's been rough couple of month for journalists and activists of every stripe. If you're interested, the Christian Science Monitor has some informative reports on the recent crackdown (here and here).

Jurisdiction:

Egypt

Content Type:

Video

Subject Area:

Riz Khan of Al-Jazeera English Interviews Egyptian Blogger Wael Abbas

Sam Bayard — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 17:03:14 +0000

This interview of Wael Abbas sheds some light on the legal and political climate for bloggers in Egypt. While Wael has not been detained by the Egyptian security forces for his blogging, the government has put him under surveillance and harassed him and his family, both electronically and otherwise. He says that one of his biggest fears is "somebody filing a lawsuit against [him], accusing [him] of defaming Egypt or spreading false rumors -- the usual stuff that is used against journalists in Egypt."

The interview also gives a sense of how important the burgeoning Egyptian blogger community has become in terms of breaking stories on police brutality, torture, mass sexual harassment, and fraudulent election practices. (Thanks to Hossam Al-Hamalawy for the tip.)

Jurisdiction:

Egypt

Digital Media Law Project - Egypt

Egyptian Security Police Detain Blogger and Graduate Student Philip Rizk

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Neuwirth v. Silverstein

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