Manama: A Tunisian court has ordered the blocking of all pornographic websites in the country within 48 hours.
The court of first instance issued the ruling on Thursday after three lawyers, Ahmed Hasana, Monem Turki and Imed Saadia, last week filed a legal case to re-impose a block of porn sites that was lifted following the uprising that toppled the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on January 14.
In their pleadings, the three lawyers highlighted the "negative psychological, physiological, social and educational effects" of pornographic websites and said that pornography clashed with the values of the Arab-Islamic society.
The ban on access to the sites was lifted in January following calls for more individual freedoms and rights. In December, the British government said that it wanted to combat the early sexualization of children by blocking internet pornography unless parents request it, British media reported.
The move followed warnings about the hidden damage being done to children by sex sites. "Instead of using parental controls to stop access to pornography - so-called ‘opting out' - the tap will be turned off at source. Adults will then have to ‘opt in'," Sunday Times reported. However, according to internet service providers (ISPs), plans to block pornography "at source" are unlikely to prove effective.
"Technical challenges mean any large scale filtering system is doomed to failure," they said.
