A Week of Arabic Blogs, Kadhafi and freedom of expression

04/04/2007

Bloggers discussed the Arab summit, Kadhafi and a lawsuit against an Algerian blogger.

[Getty Images] (left to right) Qatari Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and Algerian President Abdel Aziz Bouteflika share a light moment at the Arab Summit in Riyadh on March 28th.

Saturday (March 31st) was the last day of the first "Week of Arabic blogs." Initiated by Mohamed Said Hjiouij, the roundup was intended to "facilitate following original blogs" by having prominent Arab bloggers post on the site of the online magazine Madarat.info.

The response was slow, but has yielded some compelling social and political comments. Algerian blogger Issam Hamoud wrote about the March 28th Arab summit, wondering who might be "stupid enough" to believe, even for a second, that Arab leaders want to change: "All that has been said, and will be said, is for nothing." Hjiouij quoted an entry from the Altayeboun blog about the Mauritanian election. The blogger, Altayib, credited the country- typically a symbol of poverty and under-development- with "slapping" other Arab countries, teaching them that a nation does not need to be wealthy and powerful to achieve democracy. It does not need centuries of change, or pressure from outside, Altayib wrote. "Mauritania has proven that democracy is a decision, [born of] good intentions and love of one's country."

This week, Tunisian blogger Cos-Maux-Polis dedicates a post to Libyan leader Muammar Kadhafi, and his "encyclopaedic knowledge." The blogger argues that, despite the belief some people hold that the Libyan leader has retired his more provocative side, "Kadhafi is back to his natural self."

According to the author, Kadhafi wants to restore the Muslim caliphate in North Africa, and rule the Arab world, "to counter Western aggression". The Libyan leader considers other monotheistic religions besides Islam to be "mistaken".

The blogger also mentioned recent comments wherein Kadhafi called the political events in Mauritania "a masquerade", stating that meanwhile, "the Bulgarian nurses and Palestinian doctor are dying in the prisons of a regime equally as cynical as it is absurd."

Abdulsalam Baroudi is one of the first Algerian bloggers to be sued for his writings. The writer was accused of defamation by an Algerian official for comments posted on his blog. He received a summons from officials in Tlemcen, "to be present Saturday before the Judiciary, after Tlemcen’s Director of Religious Affairs filed a defamation case against me, for the article I posted on my blog on February 20, under the title Al Sistani Appears in Tlemcen". The blogger added that by giving the official "the go-ahead…the Ministry has now opened the door for the initiation of legal proceedings against bloggers."

Tunisian authorities have censored Mouwaten Tounsviii again, according to Mazen from the Bloggers Observatory: "it looks like the cat-and-mouse game has not ended yet between the censorship department and Tunisian blogger Mouwaten Tounsviii. For the sixth time in a row the censorship department has blocked his site, despite constantly changing his blog's address by adding numbers. Hasn't the department seen that there is no use in censorship? All the bloggers who have been censored have come back with new blogs."