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Activists, bloggers, journalists and students in Egypt are using their mobile phones to alert their networks if they are in danger or have been arrested using SMS text messaging and the micro-blogging service Twitter. Egyptian activists who have informed their network of arrest by police have proved this to be an effective means of getting the word out quickly of their detention so that fellow activists can pressure the government for a quick release, or mount a longer-term campaign in the result of formal charges.
When Egyptian journalist and blogger Wael Abbas returned to Egypt from a forum in Sweden in June of 2009 he was detained at Cairo Airport by authorities and his passport, papers and laptop were taken. Abbas is known for his blog posts exposing incidents of torture and police brutality in Egypt, and is outspoken about political reform and democracy in Egypt. When he was detained at Cairo Airport, Abbas was able to use his Twitter account to alert his followers and give numerous updates on the situation. Issandr El Amrani of The Arabist reported that Abbas’s tweets reached the president of an Egyptian human rights organization, Hisham Kassem, who is also a Twitter user. After hearing about Abbas’s detention Kassem started tweeting about his efforts to dispatch a human rights lawyer to talk to the Egyptian authorities to get Abbas released. Abbas was eventually freed within hours. El Amrani writes, “It may not be a Twitter revolution, but it's a very practical, transparent and engaging way to rally people around a cause.”
Egyptian activists of the April 6 Youth Movement, which was formed using Facebook, used Twitter and SMS text messaging to alert each other of danger and arrests during demonstrations. In Egypt on April 6, 2008 textile workers in the Nile delta town of Mahallah went on strike protesting rising food prices and low wages. Prior to the strike a group of online activists in Egypt started the April 6 Youth Movement using Facebook to call for a general strike that day in solidarity with the workers in Mahallah. When protestors and activist clashed with police that day some 40 people were injured and more than 200 people were arrested around the country. Those detained included members of the Egyptian opposition group Kefaya (Enough), the Ghad (Tomorrow) Party, a group of labor activists and activists from the April 6 Youth Movement.
Israa Abdel-Fattah, co-founder of the April 6 Youth Movement, was arrested during the April 6, 2008 protests at a café frequented by activists. When Abdel-Fattah was arrested, she text messaged her co-worker Gameela Ismail, a member of the Ghad opposition party and the wife of a prominent imprisoned opposition leader. After being charged with inciting a strike, and causing disruption and rioting, the international press and some in the Egyptian press latched on to Abdel-Fattah’s story dubbing her the “Facebook Girl.”
Wired magazine writes, “[Abdel-Fattah’s case] had an irresistible combination of ingredients: hip technology, government oppressors, an Arab woman speaking out. Instead of scaring other Facebookers away from activism, the arrest and publicity turned this meek Cairo clerk into a heroine. Members of the April 6 group began changing their profile picture to show the face of Abdel-Fattah, and (of course) launched another Facebook group calling for her release. Within days, that group had thousands of members. Abdel-Fattah became the symbol of a movement.”
When American student James Karl Buck was in Mahallah on April 10, 2008 covering the continuing textile strike he was arrested by police along with his Egyptian translator. On the way to the police station Buck alerted his contacts using Twitter by posting the word “Arrested.” When Egyptian journalist and blogger Hossam el-Hamalawy got word via twitter of Buck’s arrest he started posting updates on Buck’s status, further spreading the word. While Buck was released within 24 hours, his translator Mohammed Maree was detained for more than 3 months. Maree said he had been beaten and electrically shocked throughout his detention by Egyptian authorities. While Maree was detained, Buck petitioned US and Egyptian authorities for his release and used Twitter, blog posts and websites to spread information.
Another famous tweeting incident in Egypt involved the Egyptian opposition group Kefaya and blogger Malek Mustafa. At a Cairo protest, Mustafa was arrested and being driven away by police. Different activists had used SMS and Twitter to track the path of the police car, and another activist on his home computer was able to post the Twitter messages on Kefaya’s homepage. Using this information Kefaya activists were able to surround the police car and get Mustafa released.
Another tactic activists have used in Egypt is publishing dedicated hotline numbers set up by Egyptian human rights organizations and phone numbers of volunteer human rights lawyers prior to demonstrations. Activists published these numbers on their blogs and facebook pages prior to the April 6, 2008 strike in order for protestors to have a place to call using their mobile phones if they were harassed or arrested. Prior to other demonstrations these numbers have been recirculated by bloggers and activists using the internet and Twitter.
As of December 2009 though, Twitter stopped delivering SMS messages to mobile phones outside the US, UK, India, Indonesia, New Zealand, Haiti, and Canada. Twitter users in Egypt and around the world can still tweet messages by text messaging Twitter’s U.K. number, but they can no longer receive other users’ updates without a third party pay services like Tweet SMS or Twit Mobile.
Egypt activists have shown that text messaging and posting on Twitter using their mobile phones is an effective security measure against being harassed, arrested or disappearing after arrest. This has proved useful for outspoken bloggers being targeted and harassed by Egypt’s regime, as well as during and after demonstrations where there is police oppression. A simple SMS text or Twitter update saying one has been arrested has proved to be effective in quickly spreading the information, which then the arrestee’s support network can use to quickly pressure the government for release or mount a campaign for future release. Furthermore, using the internet, Twitter and other social media, activists in Egypt have also been able to be proactive and preventative by circulating the telephone numbers of volunteer lawyers for demonstrators to call using their mobile phones in case of arrest or harassment.
What to look out for in the future
During Egypt’s parliamentary elections in November of 2010 and presidential elections in September of 2011 there will surely be more demonstrations demanding reform and protesting Egypt’s 29-year-old emergency law, which stifles freedom of expression. It will be interesting to see how the secular and religious opposition in Egypt uses Twitter, SMS text messaging, blogging and other social media for security and information at demonstrations.
