YouTube censors Egyptian activist

The video-sharing website YouTube on Nov. 27 suspended the account of a prominent Egyptian anti-torture activist who posted videos of brutal behavior online. Wael Abbas said some 100 images he had uploaded to the site were no longer accessible to users due to "complaints about the content." Abbas, who this year won international recognition for his work in opposing the use of torture, claims the clips depicted police brutality, voting irregularities and anti-government demonstrations. But a message on Abbas's YouTube user page now reads: "This account is suspended." YouTube, now owned by search engine giant Google, failed to respond to a written request for comment. Speaking to Reuters, Abbas said: "They closed it (the account) and they sent me an email saying that it will be suspended because there were lots of complaints about the content, especially the content of torture." Abbas, who runs the Egyptian blog Misr Digital, was previously a key player in distributing a clip of an Egyptian bus driver being tortured. The video showed the victim, his hands bound, being sodomized with a stick by a police officer. The shocking imagery sparked uproar throughout Egypt, a country where human rights groups claim torture is commonplace. The tape also prompted an official investigation, which led to a rare conviction of two policemen who were sentenced to three years in prison for torture. YouTube, and other video-sharing sites on the internet, has emerged as a powerful forum for critics of the Egyptian government. But already officials in Cairo are anxious to curtail the web as a platform for opposition, instigating a crackdown on independent journalists. This year, for the first time, an Egyptian court convicted and jailed a blogger over his comments published on the internet. A string of court rulings since September have seen at least 12 Egyptian journalists jailed on charges from defaming President Hosni Mubarak, to misquoting the minister of justice. Elijah Zarwan, a prominent blogger in Egypt, said he thought it unlikely that YouTube had come under official Egyptian pressure to suspend Abbas's page. He claimed it was more plausible that the site was reacting to the graphic nature of the videos. "I suspect they are doing it not under pressure from the Egyptian government, but rather because it made American viewers squeamish," he said. "But to shut them down because some people might find the truth disturbing is unconscionable." YouTube regulations state that "graphic or gratuitous violence" is not permitted, and warn users not to post such videos. Repeat violators of its conditions may have their accounts terminated, according to rules posted on the site.