Anonymity means safety for the Sandmonkey. To some, the Sandmonkey has been a voice online to know what is happening in Egypt. To others, he is a danger to the government, with his stinging rebukes of the ruling factions. As the Sandmonkey stated in one of the last posts (April 28, 2007):

“…One of the chief reasons is the fact that there has been too much heat around me lately. I no longer believe that my anonymity is kept, especially with State Secuirty (sic) agents lurking around my street and asking questions about me…”

link: Sandmonkey: Done

The dangers are very real. “In February, Abdel Kareem Nabil, 22, a former student at Egypt’s Islamic Al Azhar University, was jailed for four years for insulting Islam and Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, on his blog.” Many countries see the internet as a danger and attempt to censor citizen content. And, for that very reason, people like the Sandmonkey are essential in providing a more valid perspective, other than a government controlled media. It is, however, done at the risk of personal peril.

The Sandmonkey has gone silent… perhaps just for a while.

Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster: http://flyinghamster.com/

[tags]sandmonkey, censorship, security, anonymity, egypt, government, catherine forsythe[/tags]