MEDIA

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YOUTUBE SHUTS DOWN SITE OF ANTI-TORTURE ACTIVIST

REUTERS - The video-sharing Web site YouTube has suspended the account
of a prominent Egyptian anti-torture activist who posted videos of what
he said was brutal behavior by some Egyptian policemen, the activist
said.

Wael Abbas said close to 100 images he had sent to YouTube were no
longer accessible, including clips depicting purported police brutality,
voting irregularities and anti-government demonstrations. YouTube, owned
by search engine giant Google Inc, did not respond to a written request
for comment.

"They closed it (the account) and they sent me an e-mail saying that it
will be suspended because there were lots of complaints about the
content, especially the content of torture," Abbas told Reuters in a
telephone interview. Abbas, who won an international journalism award
for his work this year, said that of the images he had posted to
YouTube, 12 or 13 depicted violence in Egyptian police stations.

Abbas was a key player last year in distributing a clip of an Egyptian
bus driver, his hands bound, being sodomised with a stick by a police
officer -- imagery that sparked an uproar in a country where rights
groups say torture is commonplace.

That tape prompted an investigation that led to a rare conviction of two
policemen, who were sentenced to three years in prison for torture.
Egypt says it opposes torture and prosecutes police against whom it has
evidence of misconduct.

http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL27590430.html

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