"Why are we blogging?" Said Fouad Al-Farhan in December 2007 on his website about Saudi Arabia. The responses of the blogger liked the authorities not obvious. He has since been arrested and is sitting in jail. Fouad Al-Farhan had criticized the corruption in his country and was advocated political reforms.
reached with his arrest, the Saudi authorities, however, the opposite of what they wanted. Instead of silence Al-Farhan and his criticism to make his ideas now circulating worldwide on the Internet. Even U.S. President George W. Bush is said to have inquired admonition during his visit in January in Saudi Arabia about the fate of the blogger. "The days of absolute state control of the media are over," says Larbi El Halili, who runs one of the most successful blogs in Morocco. "No longer can the wealth in the total network control and filter for unwanted content." could now mobilize blog even many people, he added proudly. Despite a positive development, the criticism of state leaders and the religion of Islam, however, remain sensitive issues that can bring in Arab countries to prison.
In Tunisia, Zouhair Yahyaoui was sentenced in 2002 to two years because he allegedly spread "false information" about human rights violations. Under the pseudonym Ettounsi he had written on his blog about freedom of expression in Tunisia. In prison, was allegedly Yahyaoui, according to Reporters without Borders, tortured. After three hunger strikes, he was released after one year on probation. 2005 until 36-year-old died of a heart attack.
In Egypt, had the 22-year-old Karim Amer in 2007 for four years behind bars because he Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Islam is said to have criticized.
"Morocco has not yet sued any bloggers," says Larbi El Halili. "We can speak relatively freely about everything that is in comparison to other Arab countries, a major exception.
The Moroccan authorities have several times "YouTube" blocked, but soon afterwards released. For the most part this is a merit of the bloggers was that the international protests started.
"A little revolution," says Larbi El Halili, calling its website every day about 3,500 visitors. Since its inception in 2004 El Halili received 18 000 responses to its more than 450 entries. There is discussion of the Moroccan Constitution, or whether the king has too much or too little power. "Of course you have to be careful in these discussions, that one does not say a wrong word," says El Halili. "The sword of Damocles hanging over an unpredictable judiciary every blogger. This was the case of Fouad Mourtada, a 26-year-old IT engineer who was a few weeks ago, the identity of a Moroccan prince on Facebook.com fictitious and sentenced to three years in prison. "It started with a fun and ended in a drama," El Halili says thoughtfully. "This was für die Bloggergemeinschaft ein Schuss vor den Bug, obwohl es uns nicht direkt betrifft“. Aber das harte Urteil zeige, wie weit die Justiz jederzeit gehen könne.
In Marokko gibt es rund 30.000 Blogs, bei etwa vier Millionen registrierten Internetbenutzern. Relativ wenige im Vergleich zu Deutschland, wo es zwischen 600.000 und 1 Million Blogs geben soll. Im nordafrikanischen Nachbarland Algerien sind es nur knapp 6000. In Tunesien sollen es kaum einmal 1000 sein, was bei der starken staatlichen Kontrolle und mangelnder Toleranz kein Wunder ist. Zudem sind nur 1,6 Millionen Internetbenutzer registriert. Aber auch in Tunesien, wie in einigen anderen rigiden arabischen Ländern, lassen sich auf lange Sicht die Internet-Revolution und die einhergehende Demokratisierung von Information nicht aufhalten. Gerade in Ländern, wo Information vom Staat offiziell verordnet wird, haben Menschen ein Bedürfnis nach anderen Nachrichten und Meinungen. Blogs sind ein Weg, dieses Bedürfnis zu befriedigen. „Natürlich besitzen Blogs noch lange nicht die Macht, die sie haben könnten oder vielleicht auch haben sollten“, stellt El Halili fest. Für ihn sind Blogs „der Argot über öffentliche Fragen“. Blog-Diskussionen seien wichtiger als Gespräche in den Cafes von Casablanca oder Kairo und in den Foren der Tageszeitungen. „Sie sind eine Art Schule der Demokratie, die die Arbeit übernehmen, die in den arabischen Medien oder auch nationalen Parliament is not done. " Blogs are a collective intelligence people, places, where there are controversial discussions and debates about politics and religion, and to think critically excited. For the Moroccan Blogger is the work of his colleague Wael Abbas of Egypt only the beginning of what is to come again. The Egyptian blogger published on his Misr Digital, pictures of police excesses. First tried to intimidate him, the authorities denounced him as a criminal and a homosexual, and later helped his video documentaries yet to transfer the concerned police officers. Two officers were charged with torture and sentenced to three years' imprisonment. Der 33-jährige Wael Abbas erhielt dafür im November 2007 den „Knight International Journalism Award“ des internationalen Zentrums für Journalisten in Washington.
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