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| Africa North |
| Tunisians fight online battle with extremists |
| 2010-05-12 |
| [Maghrebia] For some Tunisians, Facebook has turned into a battlefield where they are forced to trade cyber-blows with religious extremists whose arsenal includes death threats. The conflict began in March when a group called Facebook Pesticide began pestering the social networking site's managers to shut down the pages of alleged troublemakers. Some Facebook Pesticide targets, who seem to be singled out for views the group deems anti-Islamic, got the boot. "My Facebook page was blocked," said Nafti Houla, a user who claims he was shut down on April 28th as the result of such a campaign. For Houla, Facebook was a space to express "opinions on many national ethnic, political and labour issues". An offshoot of Facebook Pesticide, the Electric Chair group, appealed directly to Facebook subscribers, urging them to attack anyone who challenges "the Islamic religion". "Dear Subscriber, Facebook is full of fools who are on it for the sole purpose of insulting Islam and influencing young Arab Muslims," stated the appeal. "We will publish these links and report them to Facebook management so it closes their accounts. Invite your friends to make this page more effective." In April, Khemais Khayati, a journalist, critic and founding member of the Association for the Defence of Secularism in Tunisia, received a message from the group asking him to give up his secularist ideas and to go pray, "before Azrael takes you". The same group held simulated executions of several Tunisians, including Olfa Youssef, Saloua Charfi, Salah Zeghidi, Rima Essaidi and Sonia Bhiri, who are known in political and media circles for backing modernity and secularism. "I get insulting and threatening messages all the time," said Youssef, an expert on Islamic issues. "But when I open a dialogue with them, I find they are bereft and suffering from deprivation, making me think that what is happening is orchestrated by the powerful heads of the Islamist leadership." |
| Posted by:Fred |