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Rights group: Egypt took down 164 websites in 2017

August 1, 2017 at 9:13 am

Egypt blocks Al Jazeera’s website along with a number of Qatar-based sites [masrawy]

Egyptian authorities have taken down 164 websites since the start of 2017 and stopped 49 journalists from completing their work, Quds Press reported yesterday.

In a report, the rights group Freedom of Media and Information revealed that June was the month which witnessed the most violations by 59 violations, then May by 34, then January by 24 and March by 12.

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Freedom of Media and Information said that the Egyptian authorities took down 75 websites in 48 hours, noting that most of them were news websites.

Blocking websites coincided with the discussion of the issue of Sanafir and Tiran islands by the Egyptian parliament.

According to rights activists, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has imposed a crackdown on freedom of speech and expression since he took control of the country through a military coup in 2013.