Egypt's Salafist MP calls to block porn sites

Egyptian Salafist Member of Parliament Younis Mkhion requested on Monday to put an urgent briefing before the People's Assembly in order to ban pornographic sites from the Internet in Egypt, according to the official Salafist Nour Party's website. "Porn sites spread evil in the Egyptian society," said Mkhion in his request. "Their content is criminalised by the Egyptian law and it is in breach of religious beliefs, social values and morals." The Salafist MP also stated that blocking pornography sites should not be considered in breach of the freedom of speech. If the Parliament's majority approves Mkhion's demand, the Ministry of Communications will be entitled to enforce the ban. Mkhion's party- Salafist Nour - secured approximately 25 per cent of the seats in Egypt's first post-Mubarak Parliament. The beliefs of the ultra-conservative Islamist party are regarded by many secular citizens as a threat to the freedom of speech and to other personal freedoms. It is expected that the Islamist-dominated parliament will not object to the ban. Across various social media platforms, many Egyptians said that they fear that the ban of pornographic websites might open the door to more political and religious bans of other media, as well as to a larger ban of the Internet itself.