Bloggers bypassing traditional media to speak out in Egypt

In its 2008 report, Amnesty International declared that the Egyptian government's emergency powers and police force are "used systematically to violate human rights". There are just three or four newspapers said to be independent in the country, but these are cautious, and "worryingly silent" on corruption and human rights issues, explains an article in Le Monde. It is for this reason that nearly 200,000 Egyptians have embraced the freedom given by new media and begun their own blogs. Whilst only 10,000 of these are deemed "political", this is a relatively high figure given the possible ramifications.

One of the most well-known Egyptian bloggers is Waël Abbas, who revealed the brutal torture of Imad El-Kebir (as a result El-Kebir's torturers were sentenced to three years in prison, although the victim also received a three month sentence for "resistance to the forces of order"). Speaking to Le Monde, Abbas explains that the Egyptian political blogosphere is "a movement born of frustration, with neither leader nor structure". Despite Abbas explaining that the movement is unorganised, it seems to have been effective, and an exemplary use of the Internet as a means of communication - some of the bloggers command up to 30,000 readers, equalling and sometimes surpassing the circulation of government run newspapers.