Cairo court hears case to ban Facebook

A Cairo Administrative Court yesterday started the first session of a lawsuit demanding a ban on Facebook under the pretext that the social networking site is used to “threaten Egypt’s national security”.

The lawsuit, filed by lawyer Mahmoud Sami Juweili calls on the Egyptian president, prime minister, communication and IT minister, the country’s telecommunications regulatory authority and the ministers of defence and interior to ban Facebook in Egypt.

Egypt’s state-run news site said that Juweili claims in his case that “Facebook is being used to cause social fragmentation, incite debauchery, spread rumours and chaos and waste public money.”

Juweili has also claimed that the social networking site is being used to “incite the public to murder the police, the army and the judiciary and disrespect the judiciary by challenging and distorting the judiciary’s rulings to stir public opinion which threatens the country’s national security and disturbs public peace.”

In November 2014, a Cairo Administrative Court referred another lawsuit demanding Facebook and Twitter be banned to the authorities for their opinion.

The lawsuit, filed by lawyer Mohammed Hamid said social networking sites were being used to “incite violence, plan terrorist attacks against the Egyptian people and state”.

Egyptian activists resort to social networking sites to express their opinions freely away from the state security forces’ suppression.

The court adjourned the lawsuit until 14 June.