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Blog: Egyptian activists’ use of mobile phones to alert their networks of harassment or arrest by police

chrismishek's picture

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.”

Blog: Twitter (Microblogging)

Tortureinegypt.net's picture

I'm sure  people nowadays know a lot about microblogging, I mean after the mass protests in Iran. Twitter, Watwet , Jaiku or any of their brothers are quit useful.

After using twitter for a year or more, I find it helpful to give some tips:

Blog: Uses of Social Media for Activists

samirnassar's picture
Civil unrest Moldova in April, 2009 and and election fraud protests in Iran in June, 2009 make it clear that social media is now part of activists' toolkits. With the ability to route around censorship and route around restricted internet access, microblogging tools like Twitter and Identica, and social gathering sites like Facebook increase the power of social change activists.

Blog: Thoughts on the Evolution of the Blogosphere

telecommatt's picture

There is an interesting post today on A VC about the evolution of blogging. I concur with the author
when he states that he hates the term ‘Blogging 2.0′, but for lack of a
better term I’ll roll with it.

Blog: social media and activism: organizing via twitter?

MHolterhaus's picture

Blog: New Tactics for Pakistan

Wendy D's picture

What is going on in Pakistan?

Admittedly, I don’t know much about the politics of Pakistan, but I thought I had a fairly basic idea of it. I’d read about Bhutto in the news lately, and admired her bravery and the positive example she’s setting for women in the country. I also thought I knew the basics about Musharraf: democratic, more stable, and an ally of the U.S.