Internet spy project gets green light from Egyptian court

Internet users in Egypt will be subject to "limited surveillance" to help guarantee the country's national security, the interior ministry has said.

Facebookers and Twitterers face having posts monitored as domestic spy chiefs "analyse different opinions" to "identify users who could pose harm to the society".

Constitutional rights to privacy and freedom of information are "conditional if national security or public order is deemed to be at risk", according to the ministry's statement

"The pace of prosecuting opinion makers has remarkably escalated that no one could be spared from it, whether writers, internet users, human rights defenders, or even journalists themselves," the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information said in April.

Cairo's administrative court ruled on Sunday that authorities could implement the new surveillance project, under the title "security risks of social media platforms".

An example of "risks", the ministry said, was the growing number of pages "inciting against the Egyptian state and institutions" - all of which would require the interior ministry to "play its role" in protecting public and private property and national security.

The pace of prosecuting opinion makers has remarkably escalated that no one could be spared from it

Egypt has long monitored internet content to crack down on opposition ranging from anti-government activists and protesters to the banned Muslim Brotherhood group.

With the ousting of longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak, followed by the military overthrow of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi - led by current President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi - curbs on online freedoms have become ever more intense.

In April, Egypt's prosecutors ordered the arrest of Khaled al-Balshi, the head of the freedom committee at the journalists' union, on charges of inciting protests and disturbing public peace through social media networks.

The arrest warrant against Balshi, who had been actively involved in several initiatives in solidarity with detained journalists, was based on a complaint filed by the interior minister's assistant for legal affairs.

Evidence against the veteran journalist and rights activist includes video footage as well as screenshots of his tweets and Facebook posts, local media reported after his arrest.