*To read Digital Citizen in Arabic, click here. Photograph by Hisham Almiraat. *Digital Citizen is a monthly review of news, policy, and research on human rights and technology in the Arab World. Egypt “When detainees ask to see a warrant, they may be hit over the head with the butt of a gun, as in the case of a leftist blogger, Alaa Abd El Fattah, and his wife, Manal. When a prominent international judge reviewed Manal’s account of the arrest, he described it as reminiscent of the days of apartheid in South Africa.” – Bahey El Din Hassan, New York Times, February 12, 2014 Alaa Abd El Fattah has been in prison since late November, when he was arrested on accusation of organizing a protest without obtaining legal permission. In January, both Alaa and his sister, Mona Seif, received one-year suspended sentences in a case in which they were accused of torching former Presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq’s campaign headquarters. Other prominent activists, including Ahmed Maher, Ahmed Douma, and Mohamed Adel have also faced similar charges. In January, a coalition of more than 40 organizations called for the release of Alaa Abd El Fattah and other unjustly detained Egyptian activists. In the statement, Alaa’s father, Ahmed Seif, is quoted as saying: The Prosecution has done everything in its power to impede Alaa’s appeal against his imprisonment on remand. It has been more than a month since the Prosecution completed its investigations and referred the case to the Criminal Court, but lawyers have still not been allowed access to the case file, and neither a district nor a date have been set for the trial. As with the detention of several Al Jazeera journalists, these cases are emblematic of the brazen censorship being imposed by Egypt’s current military regime. Press freedom advocates have described current restrictions on the press as “greater than those imposed by either Morsi or his predecessor, autocrat Hosni Mubarak.” Tunisia Tunisia’s new Technical Telecommunications Agency, also known as A2T, will undertake electronic surveillance in service of judicial investigations. Index on Censorship’s Afef Abrougui writes: Tunisia’s interim authorities have failed to introduce real reforms in order to cut ties with the surveillance abuses of the past. Before taking the step to establish a surveillance entity the priority should have been repealing the dictatorship era laws and legally consolidating personal data protection. Local activists organized a “Stop #A2T” campaign, urging the government to hold public hearings about the agency’s structure and legal obligations, but thus far authorities have not sought to engage civil society in planning discussions. Morocco Activists and legal experts fear that Morocco’s Code Numérique, a draft bill put forward by Ahmed Reda Chami, former Minister of Industry, Trade, and New Technologies, could jeopardize online freedoms. In an interview with EFF, activist Zineb Belmkaddem explained: [The] strategy of the Moroccan authorities has been to “watch” the internet, and often times intimidate and humiliate those who criticize the regime, rather than censor…However, as the numbers of protesters shrank due to police violence, arrests and intimidation, the authorities had regained control of the streets and tried to control the Internet. Journalist Ali Anouzla, arrested in last September and released provisionally on bail in late October, still faces charges under Morocco’s terrorism statutes for linking to an article containing a YouTube video allegedly posted by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. At a January press conference in Rabat, Khadija Ryadi, head of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights, called for all charges against Anouzla to be dropped “because we are convinced of his innocence. This is not just for Ali…we are fighting for freedom for all.” UAE On January 10, Aisha Ibrahim Al-Zaabi was arbitrarily detained as she attempted to leave the UAE with her 18-month-old son in an effort to reunite with her husband, human rights defender Mohamed Saqer Al-Zaabi. Currently exiled in the UK, Saqer Al-Zaabi was convicted in absentia in the trial of 94 human rights defenders and activists in July 2013. His wife is not known to be involved in any political activity but rather appears to be the target of a campaign of punishment against her husband. Ibrahim Al-Zaabi was arrested at the Omani border and taken away by state security officers, leaving her father and her son behind. Shezanne Cassim, an American citizen imprisoned for posting a satirical video on Dubai youth culture on YouTube, was released on January 9. Cassim was accused of “defaming the country’s image abroad” under the country’s cybercrime law and sentenced to jail, deportation, and a fine in December 2013. Upon his return to the US, Cassim sharply criticized the UAE, saying: “I did nothing wrong. There was nothing illegal about the video, even under UAE law. I was tried in a textbook kangaroo court, and I was convicted without any evidence.” On December 25, 2013, the Abu Dhabi Federal Court sentenced human rights advocate Mohamed Salem Al-Zumer to three years in prison and a fine of 500,000 Emirati Dirhams (US$136,091) over accusations of insulting the president and the prince of Abu Dhabi on Twitter. The Abu Dhabi court also issued a verdict against human rights advocate Abdul Rahman Omar Bajubair, who lives outside the UAE, demanding that he be detained for five years on accusations of managing a website called Motadaminoon, which the court claims had offended the honor of the Federal Court’s judges and the court’s prestige. Jordan A new policy requires mobile phone users to register their devices — those using local SIM cards will have their service deactivated if they do not comply with the rule. On a similar note, Jordan’s Telecommunication Regulatory Commission is seeking to implement a system for tracking phones coming in and out of Jordan. The Commission’s stated aim is to track stolen devices and protect consumers from counterfeited ones, but the system could also lead to broad mobile phone surveillance. Syria In addition to traditional and chemical warfare used in Syria, malicious software is being deployed against the Syrian opposition and being used to hijack Facebook pages, install malware, and trick targets into clicking malicious links. A study by EFF and the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab analyzes and documents evidence of these trends. The study warns Syrians to use caution when opening email attachments or clicking links posted to Facebook and YouTube. US-based online learning platform Coursera was recently blocked in all countries under US trade sanctions, including Syria. The block on Syria was lifted shortly thereafter, following aseries of activist reports on the issue. Sudan Sudan has been known to censor the Internet, but—as analysts with the New America Foundation recently pointed out—they’re not the only government affecting what Sudanese citizens can see and use online. In an article for Slate, Danielle Kehl and Tim Maurer write: Currently, Sudan is one of five countries in the world subject to comprehensive U.S. sanctions, which are designed to change governments’ behavior. But some of the provisions of those sanctions have become outdated—especially when it comes to new technologies like personal communication tools.