Egypt's Interior Ministry: We monitor Facebook public pages, not people

Cairo – The Egyptian Interior Ministry does not spy on people using Facebook, but only monitors the posts of public pages on the social network, said head of the ministry’s department for combating computer-related crimes.

General Ali Abaza explained that his department works under the slogan of “Respect for Sanctity of People’s Private Life” as stipulated by the constitution. The department is one of the state-run legal institutions that abide by the rule of law. 

“How can the department breach the sanctity of the life of ordinary citizens after it has earnestly exerted efforts to protect them,” he said.

In an exclusive interview with El-Youm El-Sabaa newspaper, Abaza said: “Practically speaking, there are 45 million internet users in Egypt, so how we can keep such huge numbers under surveillance to spy on them.”

“We monitor and track criminals, not [ordinary] people. This falls under full judicial supervision, and comes after all legal procedures are met and obtaining permission from the Public Prosecution.

“No citizens have come forward to claim that the sanctity of their private life has been violated. We are just monitoring the posts of public pages,” Abaza added.

The use of social networks, including Facebook, is increasing in Egypt and the interior ministry is working hard to track criminals and online extremism-related activities.