Blog platform Maktoob again accessible

The blog platform Maktoob has been accessible again in Yemen since 31 March. The 2,000 Yemeni blogs hosted on this platform could not be updated for about week, without any explanation being given by the authorities or ISPs. Created in 2000, Maktoob is the Internet's largest English-Arabic platform with more than 4 million users worldwide. ------------------ 26.03 - Access to leading Yemeni blog platform has been blocked for several days Reporters Without Borders condemns the fact that access to Maktoobblog.com, a blog platform that hosts more than 2,000 Yemeni blogs, has been blocked for several days without any explanation being given by the country's ISPs or the platform itself. “The situation of the Internet in Yemen continues to get worse,” the press freedom organisation said. “Without access to Maktoob, Internet users cannot post entries on their blogs and report news. President Ali Abdallah Saleh's government is having a difficult time with a wave of social unrest throughout the country. We fear the authorities are adopting online censorship measures in a bid to silence these protests.” The information ministry denies blocking the site. But OpenNet Initiative, a partnership of academic institutions in Britain, Canada and the United States, has established that Maktoob continues to be inaccessible for the clients of the state ISP Yemennet. When reached by Reporters Without Borders, Yemennet refused to make any comment. The website of the Yemeni Socialist Party, http://www.aleshteraki.net, has been inaccessible since 12 March without any explanation being offered by the authorities. The YemenPortal news website, http://www.yemenportal.net, is also inaccessible . Reporters Without Borders wrote to the information minister on 12 February requesting an explanation for the government's Internet filtering policies. He did not reply. Internet users launched a campaign for the unblocking of Yemeni opposition websites on 15 February . On 12 March Reporters Without Borders released a list of “countries under surveillance” because of their Internet policies. Yemen is on the list.