Egypt’s top court bans porn sites, demands enforcement
An Egyptian court has ordered Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb to impose a ban on pornographic websites. A similar decision taken two years ago denounced pornographic content as “venomous and vile,” but failed to come into force.
The Wednesday ruling is to be immediately enforced, but it can be appealed at the Supreme Administrative Court, Ahram Online reported.
During the hearing, lawyer Nezar Gharab said that pornographic websites lead to a spread in “immorality,” affecting young people:
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“Islamic Sharia law and all heavenly religions came to elevate human beings to a desired level of dignity.”
The Egyptian court has banned porn websites in the past, but the rulings were never completely implemented.
In November 2012, the country’s Prosecutor General ordered government ministries to block porn from the web, referring to a 2009 decision that had not been enforced.
Back in 2009, under the Hosni Mubarak government, a Cairo court declared: “Freedom of expression and public rights should be restricted by maintaining the fundamentals of religion, morality and patriotism.” The ruling condemned and banned graphic websites.
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The decision follows a recent scandal over a porn video shot at the pyramids in Giza in front of tourists, which sparked an investigation by Egypt’s authorities.
The woman in the film reportedly turned out to be a porn actress, who had pulled similar stunts in the past.
“A set of sexually explicit scenes was illegally filmed inside the Giza Necropolis by a foreign tourist while visiting the site,” Egypt’s Antiquities Minister Mamdouh al-Damati said in a statement cited by Egyptian press.
