Egypt: Mubarak to pay for mobile & internet services black-out

Ousted Egyptian president president Hosni Mubarak and two former officials have been fined $90 million by an Egyptian administrative court for cutting mobile and internet services during protests in January, according to Reuters.

A source in the courts told Reuters that Mubarak was fined $33.6m, former prime minister Ahmed Nazif was fined $6.7m, and the former Interior minister Habib al-Adli was fined $50.5m.

According to the court ruling, Mubarak, Nazif and Adli are guilty of "causing damage to the national economy" and all fines will be paid into Egypt's treasury.

Vodafone Egypt has revealed that it and other mobile operators in the country were told by the government to suspend services in certain areas of the country during the uprising against the government in January and had no choice but to comply.

Vodafone has also accused the government of using its network to send out pro-government messages to its subscribers during the protests.

Maged Othman, minister of Communications and Information Technology in Egypt has said that his ministry will pay $16.8m out to telecoms operators to compensate for losses caused by the service disruptions during the protests.

The 18-day uprising that ended Mubarak's 31 year reign was largely organized through social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

© ITP.net