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Egypt Court Bans Pornography

May 20, 2015

An Egyptian court has ordered Egypt’s Prime Minister take immediate action to ban pornography websites in Egypt, reported state media Al-Ahram.

The decision by Egypt’s Administrative Court on Wednesday contradicts the same court’s decision two years ago in which it decided not to ban pornography websites, stated Ahram Online.

The plaintiff had reportedly argued that pornography websites allowed immorality to spread in society, particularly impacting youth and children. Moreover, the plaintiff contended that pornography reduces the level of human dignity and contradicts Islamic Sharia law and all other religions.

While the Prime Minister must now take immediate action to respond to the court’s decision, the government may choose to appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court.

In 2013, under former President Mohammed Morsi, the Administrative Court ruled against enforcing a ban on pornography websites. The case had arose after Egypt’s former Prosecutor General Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud submitted an official decree ordering Egypt’s Ministry of Telecommunications and Ministry of Interior to ban pornographic websites based on a 2009 case. The 2009 case, also in Egypt’s Supreme Administrative Court, had declared a ban on pornographic websites but was not enforceable.

According to Ahram Online in 2013, a ban on pornographic websites would cost $US 16.5 million to implement and would strain Egypt’s ailing internet infrastructure.

A screenshot from a pornographic video shot at Egypt's Pyramids that stirred outrage in Egypt.
A screenshot from a pornographic video shot at Egypt’s Pyramids that stirred outrage in Egypt.

The latest court decision comes after two controversies concerning pornography shot at Egypt’s Pyramids. Egyptian authorities vowed to investigate and tighten security at Egyptian historic sites to provide greater security and prevent further pornographic videos from being shot.

Comments (26)

  1. Bahi Hussein says:

    Actually, that is waste of money, blocking porno websites wouldn’t prevent porn seekers from finding their way through the internet using softwares like HotspotShield. Gulf countries have a great failure experience with blocking pornography sites.

    1. Mahmoud A. El-Beleehy says:

      Yeah this is so true, and actually they can download HD version from Torrent websites, plus with using VPNs and Proxies you can pass such a block.
      Stupid decision to keep limiting people more and more, totally useless, Internet pirates will always find a way!

  2. Minymina says:

    A bunch of !diots!!!!

    Ignoring the fact that sex is a natural phenomenon in which the government shouldn’t be involved in and that this is categorized as censorship, it’s still a BS ruling.

    From a logical perspective, this is gonna cost the taxpayer $US 16.5 million to be implemented as well as at least $US 5 million a year to maintain. Even with all the money in the world you can’t censor porn. Censoring porn will require to ban of half the internet. Even websites such as Twitter, Tumblr and Reddit would require censorship as they contain pornographic content. It should also be noted that people will still be able to access pornography via proxies and other sites which will not be censored as it is impossible to full censor half the world wide web.

    With all that said, it amazes the f**k out of me that this is even considered. We are not Iran nor are we Saudi Arabia. How is this even comprehensible? We didn’t remove the Brotherhood so these morons can censor our lives.

    If anything we can use more porn to tackle the harassment epidemic which is fueling our society.

    1. Commander_Chico says:

      Look behind the curtain. This is not about censoring porn, this is about censoring this site and all others critical of the regime.

      As in other countries, authoritarian measures are introduced “for the children” and morality.

      Once the system is in place, easy to shut down any site you want, like in the UAE.

    2. Minymina says:

      They can already shut down any site they want you moron. What makes this different is that they want to block porn and just porn which therefore requires a list made up of every known porn site and it’s IP address.

      As in other countries, authoritarian measures are introduced “for the children” and morality

      Are you fucking kidding me? Who are you to define whats moral and what isnt. What gives you the right to tell me what I can see and do? As for the “children” part, that’s up to the motherf**king parents.

      EDIT: Nice one editing your comment jacka$$. Either have the balls to defend your opinions or GTFO.

    3. Commander_Chico says:

      There are systems that can automatically block content, like porn or the phase “Sisi is the pimp.”