Readers may be aware that Youtube suspended the account of Egyptian video blogger Wael Abbas, a ban which featured on Reuters and Fox News. These news outlets have released statements saying that Youtube has restored his account. The truth is that although they have restored his account, they have removed all of the videos showing torture and police brutality, which represent the gist of his achievements. 181 videos, along with all the reactions to them.
I translate his post on the subject below:
I return to you from 30 days around the world, which I spent between Beirut, Washington, New York, Rabat, Casablanca and Guadalajara in Mexico. I’ll tell you about what I was doing later. I didn’t have enough time or an available internet connection to blog. But YouTube has issued a press release and distributed it to the news agencies saying that they have restored my account, the text of which is below:
Our general policy against graphic violence led to the removal of videos documenting alleged human rights abuses because the context was not apparent.
Having reviewed the case, we have restored the account of Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas. And if he chooses to upload the video again with sufficient context so that users can understand his important message, we will of course leave it on the site.
The press release on Reuters
The press release on Fox News
Please visit my account to see what has been restored. Nothing!! All the videos have been removed, whether they are related to torture or not, and with them of course all the visitor statistics, all the comments, all the video responses, and all the ratings. Oh joy!
What have they done but save their face, which has been scattered on the western media sources and on the western blogs more than the Egyptian ones.
The people who were most concerned were the western bloggers, people not of my religion or of yours, and not from my country or from yours. I don’t know them and they don’t know me. I thank all the western bloggers who stood by me and a very few Egyptian bloggers, only my close friends, some of whom offered to start a campaign against YouTube. I really thank them very much and have put a check mark against them in my heart.
All my efforts in uploading 181 videos over three years have been wasted. Yes, 181, not 100 as I previously thought. Apparently I am allowed to upload them again on condition that I write an accompanying description identifying what they contain so that no one will get the wrong idea, God forbid. So when I wrote “Egyptian police brutality” wasn’t that enough? Could someone have considered the Emad El Kebeer video [anal assault of man by police] a gay orgy? Or could they consider that video of that girl suspended between two chairs BDSM? I wrote “Egyptian police torturing a female murder suspect”. Besides, most of the videos feature police officers in uniform. Could YouTube consider that a police uniform fetish?
Ultimately, in summary, it was a hoax. YouTube restored an empty account – removed my 181 videos along with all comments, ratings, video responses and statistics of numbers of visitors. The hard work of almost three years. They wanted only to save face at my expense. What more context would they ever want than what was already there.
The campaign against YouTube shall not stop, so thank you to all those who helped, and God heal the spiteful.
–
Yahoo also restores my email account
And on the occasion of the Youtube scandal, Yahoo also restored my account, in silence, not missing a single email. The sent me the following message:
The situation you describe has been resolved. I apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused you. Please be assured that we'll do our best to prevent such problems in the future.
As a matter of fact if you look at his account there are a few of the torture/brutality videos, but not the really graphic ones he referred to above.
forsoothsayer
Unnecessary and not very diverting musings 
That Guy
December 9, 2007
What freedom??The truth is there is no freedom ANYWHERE. All these things they feed us INCLUDING democracy is a complete illusion.The funny thing is here in Egypt, we don’t even have the illusion!
Forsoothsayer
December 9, 2007
why do people always assume that when others get angry this reflects on the veracity of their remarks? can a person not be mad because another behaves like a dickhead? this is in fact one such occasion. of course, it makes no odds to your revolting elitism and racism that in fact, i myself am a very recent arrival to this city…probably of more recent tenancy than yourself. presumably i would not, according to your shining logic, have then been influenced by whatever ridiculous environment you think plagues Cairenes. don’t let that stop your spree of insults and general swinehood.that said, you will have to do so elsewhere as i will delete all further comments. i believe we’ve savoured enough of your ill-spelled and ill-punctuated spews of filth.
Anonymous
December 9, 2007
Yahoo revealed the name of dissenters to the chinese government. Google revises its search results to not reveal content that the chinese government doesnt want people to see.And this is one more example. Its sad really, especially since there is nothing that can be done about it.al-zainy: whatever opinions you have, you can display them in a more civilised and friendly manner. What you are doing is trolling, which can only serve the purpose of readers not taking what you say seriously. If you cannot make your points without reverting to things like hypocricy and monkeys, then it strongly weakens what you have to say, if anything.
diptychal
December 9, 2007
First of all – I think your title is a bit sensationalisitic.And yes I agree that Youtube was mistaken to delete the videos without looking into the matter more closely – but it wasn’t like it was a personal affront to Wael Abbas and human rights on their part – their policy is that if anything is deemed inappropriate – it is deleted. That’s how they deal with things in general not just with Egyptian activists. I can’t understand why people are hung up on the fact that after the account was restored the videos were gone – what did they expect?Now while I of course think it is the utmost of importance for people to see his videos and understand the gravity of the situation – do you really expect the people who run youtube to even begin to understand the intricate politics and lack of human rights in Egypt? That’s giving them way too much credit. The real problem here is that “someone” clearly took the time to flag all of Abbas’ videos over and over until Youtube did something about it…
Anonymous
December 9, 2007
there is much worse shit than this on youtube; you just need to have an account and comply with the understanding that what you are about to view might be inappropriate for some.they are not idiots. these policies are in place to revert back to in situations like this. they know who the ‘someone’ was and what they want done, and yet the still removed the videos. much in the same line as, like anon pointed above, what google and yahoo routinely do with oppressive regimes.
Anonymous
December 9, 2007
just to clarify, my reply above was directed to diptychal.
Forsoothsayer
December 10, 2007
actually, this story was splashed all over the news and it was made very clear to youtube that the disseminiation of these videos had recently led to the conviction of officers for torture. they clearly depict the nature and actors of the brutality. the purpose and impact of the videos is clear from the the various petitions, apart from the labelling and reposnes to the videos . it wasn’t some kind of automated response. read the man’s post.given this blatant disregard, yes, youtube are complicit in hiding human rights abuses. they DO know what they’re doing.
diptychal
December 10, 2007
I stand corrected.. bt whatever it is in his post that makes it so obvious that YouTube are in the wrong – I can’t read cause it’s in Arabic…
Drazen Spartak Ivanovic
December 10, 2007
I just can’t believe the way some Egyptians go on to reiterate imported ready made concepts, only to advocate superimposing them foolishly in Egypt. That is utterly ridiculous. So many times I just couldn’t help myself wondering if there had been something about Egyptian culture that halted the natural development of perception powers and analytical thinking capabilities. Ironically enough, the editor here is assumed to be one with a liberal and progressive self-image. It is clear that she is granted the title- liberal progressive simply because of her ability to identify with western values and to blab about concepts of human rights…etc. A close scrutiny of whatever she is writing, however, would reveal that this presumed liberal outlook is highly reactionary at the core. It is just like reciting Coptic or koranic texts in a Coptic church or a mosque without a tangible identification with the values, explanations and ideas they espouse. There is a total lack of the ability to learn, adopt and modify. The learning process, in its broader contexts, for Egyptians is centred on restating what the higher authorities have offered; in this particular case, the higher authority happens to be the Coptic reading of the American human rights nonsense.
Forsoothsayer
December 10, 2007
it’s a shame for your assumptions that i was brought up a protestant, outside egypt, and now i don’t believe in much. just because you don’t believe in human rights (what?) doesn’t mean we don’t have critical thinking skills. in fact the range os assumptions u have made is flabbergasting. if you think “the rule of law” is “an imported redy-made concept” then you are a fucktard. oh, wait, you’re talking out of your ass.
drazen spartak ivanovic
December 10, 2007
Ease up on me, no need to get nasty. I went through all the comments,and I found that the rule of law was not mentioned even once. In so far as I know, there is a huge difference between the rule of law and the post colonial American conception of human rights. “given this blatant disregard, yes, youtube are complicit in hiding human rights abuses. they DO know what they’re doing”That reads that you are intensely advocating the necessity of some golbal authority on monitoring and checking the course of human rights,yet you haven’t considered the circumstances under which this discourse has been recently highlighted, with all the adverse implicatins it has on your people!Also I don’t think that my assumptions were farfetched, for in spite of the considerable cultural differences between coptic protestants and the rest of the sects, all have a unified stance regarding the democracy and human rights hustle and bustle…..
drazen sparatk ivanovic
December 10, 2007
The fact that you don’t believe much doesn’t yet mean that you are not a protestant:)
Forsoothsayer
December 10, 2007
it reads nothing of the sort. who exactly are “my people”? i just think that youtube has deliberately assited in concealing what, partly due to them, has received enough publicity to be used as evidence. i don’t think anyone should force them to show these videos: there’s just no need to engage in the deception that they have. things can still be shameful without being illegal. perhaps you should read more about 1) this issue, and Wael Abbas’s post and what exactly these videos reflect; and 2) my blog, before you make your offensive judgments about either. i believe i will make the decisions here about what my religious beliefs are or are not.
S
December 10, 2007
Dear Drazen/Al-Zainy/Amre,You really should consider changing your posting style so as not to give you away. But hey, at least you’ve attempted to use the semicolon somewhere in your run-on, comma-infested sentences. I also applaud you from restraining yourself to type in “Heeeeeeeeeee” on your comments as was previously done under both former pseudo names. Good job!
Safiya Outlines
December 11, 2007
Would it be possible to have a translation of Wael’s post?
Munqy
December 11, 2007
To the poster(s) who seem to have dedicated their very existence to picking a fight:What exactly is your point here? You pull in all sorts of big words and concepts, throwing out complete bollocks without even stopping to think about what you’re writing. Then you work in your racist, prejudiced views regarding religious beliefs and practices with just the vaguest attempt to link it to the main points.Taking this post as an example, what you seem to be advocating here is that we shouldn’t follow concepts of human rights – but then you couldn’t actually be saying that could you? What exactly is the “post-colonial American conception of human rights”? Moreover, whose law are you referring to – Egyptian, international, what? Stop being vague and inflammatory and try and make a point.You also leap from one comment regarding the fact that Youtube is participating in blocking videos (which they are, their policies are weak at best, and a sham to cover their political backsides at worst) to saying that Forsooth is advocating some sort of Big Brother for human rights. Incredible leap of logic. Almost Izzardesque non sequitur rambling.Finally, you sir are a Troll (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_%28Internet%29) – and this is the last time that I will feed a Troll.
Anonymous
December 11, 2007
Thanks so much for the translation of Wael’s post – it really helped clarify the issue of YouTube’s wrongdoing. I’m sure a lot of people (like me) who were aware of Wael’s suspended account figured that the problem was solved once YouTube restored his account. Clearly it’s not. I hope the same reporters and bloggers that picked up on the original story carry on with the story.
I
December 11, 2007
I am surprised that Youtube has taken that step, since part of their blurb is not to be used as a platform for videos showing degrading treatment etc. Although i congratulate wael on his work, i don’t think youtube is the right platform and that perhaps sending it on to a human rights organisation to publicise in a way which is respectful to the victims might be better.And before everyone gets on my case, please consider if you would like every person in the world to see you receive the treatment that Emad received. I don’t think progress should come at the cost of the victims’ dignity.
Safiya Outlines
December 11, 2007
Thank you for the translation.There are just so many issues here, including the whole concept of whether you ‘own’ what you put online.It’s an interesting point ‘I said’ made about the victim’s dignity, but I presume Wael had the permission of those featured to show the videos. Maybe people need to be shocked into taking action.
Forsoothsayer
December 11, 2007
human rights organization websites don’t have the abndwidth to support uploading movies – it’s been suggested. moreover, they don’t get nearly as many hits.without this video on youtube, emad’s assaulters could quite possibly have never come to justice. too many people saw it for the government to ignore.
Anonymous
December 11, 2007
good news, youtube restored most of his videos now! (:
I
December 11, 2007
Safiya, i doubt very much that he got Emad’s permission but i don’t know. This is Egypt remember.
Forsoothsayer
December 13, 2007
you must be delusional if you think rational answers can be forthcoming after you call me a cunt. i can’t even believe how you can exist, just to troll blogs and leave meaningless, ill expressed abuse. i wish you were even making some point.
TeacherLady
December 14, 2007
Forsoothsayer, thank you for speaking up on behalf of those whose rights have been abused. If that makes you a ‘cunt’, then my hope is to be a cunt too! It’s sad when a desire to protect humans from suffering is perceived as an influence of the evil west or exclusively American ideals. While I may not see Youtube as a collaborator, they certainly aren’t helping by limiting exposure of the truth. If you want someone to learn something nowadays, it’s got to be on Youtube, so we’d be hard pressed to find another forum with quite as much exposure.Anyway, good luck, and thanks again.
TeacherLady
December 14, 2007
PS: I think the Youtube people are just afraid to rock boats and are just cowardly. It’s so much safer to avoid bigger issues than to realize you play a part of them.
Tsedek
December 16, 2007
he deletes all my comments from his blog so what is he complaining about?
Seneferu
December 17, 2007
Maybe I’m naive but when I first heard about this story I thought maybe they removed the videos for their graphic content, not because Youtube is collaborating with the Egyptian government, i.e; maybe there are some sick people in this world who might use the videos for purposes other than censuring the Egyptian police force for its human rights abuses. (Read today’s story in Elmasry Elyoum about an Egyptian tortured in Kuwait, for example, and you might see some relation to what happened to Emad el Kebir.)All I’m saying is: who knows.And besides, what kind of leverage would the Egyptian government have over Youtube? I don’t think it would have any commercial clout similar to China’s over other online corporations.You can argue against the soundness, reasoning and unprofessionalism of Youtube’s actions, but I don’t see that collaboration is necessarily involved.
Forsoothsayer
December 17, 2007
they removed the videos because too many people flagged them as offensive. said people are obviously people who have an agenda- probably the government security or whoever who unquestionably troll the internet.Youtube was alerted to the importance of the content of the videos and still chose to disregard them. they may not be collaborators in intent, but in effect. and yes, it is effect that matters, because it’s a foreseeable effect.
Seneferu
December 17, 2007
I agree with your first paragraph being as far as the government can be involved, that being policy procedures not collaboration from the other end on YouTube. Again, who knows.