“If they shut down thousands of accounts… we will write on the walls of the streets: Our Nation is always Victorious,” wrote Mahmoud al-Misrati, editor-in-chief of the Libya al-Jadida newspaper (New Libya), on his new Facebook account after his old one was closed down.

“If they shut down thousands of accounts… we will write on the walls of the streets: Our Nation is always Victorious,” wrote Mahmoud al-Misrati, editor-in-chief of the Libya al-Jadida newspaper (New Libya), on his new Facebook account after his old one was closed down.

Al-Misrati is not the only one to have recently been deprived of their presence on Facebook, which has become so popular among Libyans since the 2011 revolution.

In the last month, the accounts of a number of activists, journalists, and politicians, were shut down as a result of a campaign of complaints launched by unknown people. Now the Facebook site administration is asking the owners of these accounts to identify themselves so that their profiles can be re-activated.

What most of these accounts have in common is their regular criticism of Islamist politicians and the pro-Islamist militia Libyan Shield.

One of these belonged to Mahmoud Shammam, the official responsible for the media in the outgoing National Transitional Council. Shammam is known for his ability to speak to the ordinary Libyan and his criticism of leading Islamist parties like the Justice and Construction Party, the Loyalty to the Blood of the Martyrs bloc, and the Central Shield of Misrata.

As well as several journalists and writers, the accounts of Umar al-Quwair, a blogger, Abdul Muez Banoun, a political activist, and Usama al-Jared, an activist in the federalist movement, were also shut down.

Even the accounts of some politicians were targeted by the campaign – also shut down were the pages of Asmaa Sariba, a member of the outgoing National Congress, Libya’s transitional legislative body, and Ziad Dughaim, an MP who won in the Benghazi district in the parliamentary elections, and a stinging critic of the Islamist movement.

Moreover, the page of the al-Dawliyah TV station, which adopts the rhetoric of the National Alliance Forces of Mahmoud Jibril, was also shut down.

Silencing opposition

Usama al-Jared, a federal activist, told Correspondents that the shutdown of Facebook pages took place without any clear and convincing reasons. “A number of news pages, which have many followers, have been shut down, which is by many as an attempt to silence the media and muzzle the public.”

Al-Jared pointed out that this had all happened before during the days of dictator Muammar Gaddafi. “In 2009, my page, under the name of ‘Free Barqawi (person from Barqa)’ was shut down by the administration, and there were no signs of piracy, although I did not violate any of the site’s rules or privacy policies. We were only confronting the former regime’s policies.”

Deliberate closure

“This is the responsibility of the Facebook administration and I consider it part of a campaign aimed at silencing people,” journalist Nargis al-Ghiryani told Correspondents. “The shutdown of any page is based on complaints submitted by other people on their own pages to the administration of Facebook or by official state institutions.”

Al-Ghiryani condemned the deletion of any account, regardless of its ideological orientation. “This is an act aimed at silencing people and this policy has gone forever,” she said. No groups have claimed responsibility for the spam campaign, but many whose pages were suspended have accused the political Islamist movement of being behind it.

Salim Raqaei, a writer, claimed on his Facebook page that “the ruling gang in Libya is the same as the Facebook administration and sends formal letters stamped by the Libyan state demanding the closure of accounts of some of the opponents of this ‘gang’ and who reject its way of ruling Libya,” insinuating that the Muslim Brotherhood and specifically al-Qaeda are behind the closure.

He added that “the complaining party is claiming that activists are using other people’s names to spread their own opinions, which is why many accounts were shut down, among them my own.”

He advised victims to write letters to the Facebook’s administration asking to send it copies of their identification cards such as their passports to prove the validity of their information.

For his part, Hussein al-Masalati said that his account has been temporarily suspended on the pretext of checking his personal information. “I am not really sure if they want to verify my personal information or if there is a conspiracy by the Islamist movement,” he said.

Provocative pages

Muhammad al-Najem, president of the Libyan Centre for Press and Information Freedom, told Correspondents that the closure of personal websites and Facebook accounts was a restriction of public freedoms and freedom of expression – freedoms that were born in Libya’s revolution.

But he also argued that some of the owners of these pages have been “inciting tribal and regional conflicts and pouring oil on the flames in the country’s current political crisis.”

His centre has flagged up a number of instances of “incitement rhetoric” that he believes damages Libya, and he argued that calling for violence and hatred was also an encroachment of public freedoms. “More than one warning was given to these pages before closing them,” he said. He added that there is a need to supervise these pages and conduct dialogue with their owners to avoid rhetoric that may be detrimental to the stability of society.

Mutual incitement

Al-Najem denied accusations that Islamist supporters were responsible for the closures. The issue, he said, was not simply the result of a campaign and a counter-campaign launched by one political movement against another, but rather the hate-fuelled rhetoric launched by certain people who happen to have allegiances with the two parties.

He was not saying this to defend the Islamists, he added, but because he had noticed that many Islamist-affiliated Facebook pages had also been shut down.