Monday, December 03, 2007

Anti-torture Blogger Back on YouTube

Last week YouTube closed the account of Egyptian anti-torture activist Wael Abbas.

Now it appears he may be able to post again at the video site.
The video-sharing Web site YouTube has restored the account of a prominent Egyptian anti-torture activist, and said on Monday he may repost graphic images of purported rights abuses if he puts them in proper context.

Wael Abbas said last week that YouTube had suspended his account and that around 100 images he had posted, including clips of police brutality, purported voting irregularities and anti-government demonstrations were no longer accessible.

YouTube, owned by search engine giant Google Inc, said in a statement that it was committed to preserving its site as an "important platform for expression of all kinds" while ensuring that it remains a safe environment for users.

"Our general policy against graphic violence led to the removal of videos documenting alleged human rights abuses because the context was not apparent," the statement said.

"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."
Considering YouTube is filthy with pro-jihadi propaganda, this represents a small step toward sanity. Now if they only cleaned up some of the garbage on their site.

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