CAIRO: A court in Port Said Monday reviewed the first defamation case filed against an Egyptian blogger, Tamer Mabrouk.
Mabrouk, author of Al-Hakika blog, is being accused by the Trust Chemicals Company of writing false information concerning their alleged dumping of chemical waste into the Manzallah Lake and the Suez Canal.
The preliminary review set a date for the defense to present documents they expect will prove Mabrouk’s innocence.
Mabrouk is also being taken to account for his writing concerning factory workers’ rights, such as workers being denied contracts and subjected to arbitrary redundancy by factory-owners. Part of the potentially incriminating posts claimed that the harsh working conditions suffered by factory workers led to a recent sit-in.
However, according to a press release by the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), Mabrouk did not mention the factory by name. It was only when government newspaper Al-Massaa used his posts and blogged photographs as the basis for an article branding the company “the death factory in Port Said, that the case was filed.
Direct naming of the company concerned is a prerequisite for a defamation case.
“On June 23, we will show the court that what he wrote does not constitute defamation. All his information is supported by factual evidence, and the name of the factory was not mentioned, Gamal Eid, representative and lawyer for the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, told Daily News Egypt.
Human rights groups also stress the links of Mabrouk’s work to the field of human rights in Egypt.
“The photos and the documents being published by the blogger are evidence of a very dangerous human rights violation and should lead to an investigation into the company that is threatening the health of millions of Egyptians and at the same time arbitrarily firing hundreds of contracted workers, said Rowda Ahmed, lawyer at ANHRI.
The case is marked as a unique and dangerous first step towards wiping out the work done by internet bloggers in exposing violations of human and environmental rights.
“This case is a new episode in the persecution of bloggers. Tamer has unveiled a critical pollution case in Port Said that is no less dangerous than Agrium’s; we must support the role he is playing, said Hany Al-Gibaly the secretary of Mosawah Association.
The case against Mabrouk has been described by representatives of human rights groups as an attempt to silence those who voice real environmental and health dangers posed to Egyptian citizens through the illegal dumping of chemical waste.
Eid also expressed fears that this case could lead to other bloggers being exposed to court action. On the other hand, he said, should Mabrouk win the case, it would set a precedent deterring other companies from taking action against bloggers.
Human rights groups ANHRI and Mosaweh Association also suspect that a third party is responsible for the suspension of a campaign against the polluting company in both independent and government newspapers. “The government newspaper Al-Massaa stopped publishing reports on the factory, which is why they haven’t been taken to court. However, Tamer continued his exposé. The question we keep asking is who is silencing these newspapers? said Eid.
