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Can Egypt's Telecom Giants Be Sued In the US?

Posted by timothy on from the those-phones-really-tied-the-room-together dept.

bedouin writes "In April, the Egyptian Centre for Housing Rights filed a lawsuit on behalf of other plaintiffs against the three telecommunications companies (and a number of current and former Egyptian officials) seeking compensation for the damages they suffered due to the shutdown of communications. The case is ongoing. An interesting question is whether any of these companies could also be sued in US courts."

2 of 105 comments (clear)

  1. Re:They can by cappp · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Obtaining justice in their own system is likely to be really, really hard. I don't know for certain but I would imagine that in Egyptian Law the telecom companies would be able to successfully argue that they were merely following governmental orders, and the government will claim some kind of perogative to act - probably grounded in some kind of martial law rights. The problem is that the law as it stood both reflected and enable a specifically ordered power structure - the law would give deference to the government in many areas.

    So you're stuck with the hope that the law would be adapted, a process that takes a lot of time and negotiation, and protections for civil society added. Problem - a lot of states forbid ex post facto prosecution. Egypt is a signatory to the Arab Charter on Human Rights which specifically states that

    o crime and no penalty can be established without a prior provision of the law. In all circumstances, the law most favorable to the defendant shall be applied.

    . So the only option is likely to be appeals to international courts. Using the courts as they stand in Egypt is likely to be futile at present, and in the future they'll be unable to claim for injuries suffered prior to the adoption of new laws. It's a difficult situation to be in.

    Moreover, there's a lot of reasons to make an international case here - and most of them are rooted in good ol' money and politics.

  2. Re:Blah. by pinkushun · · Score: 3, Insightful

    There is a bigger picture involved.

    During the Egyptian revolution the telecom companies, instead of supporting the people, complied with and acted upon the requests of a tyrannical leader to shut down internet access, in an attempt to silence the people. [1]

    They also complied to send out pro-government, anti-democracy [2] mobile text messages [3].

    Don't buy Vodafone's excuse, they abide to a mad man's "emergency laws", while the people and journalists risked life and limb to have their voice heard. Vodafone agreed to his terms, a guy who is now facing the death penalty under charge or premeditated murder against civilians[5], and need to grow a pair.

    And do you know why?
    "Its not clear who paid for the messages which could amount to hundred of thousands of dollars worth of messaging."

    [1] http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/2011128796164380.html
    [2] http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=133349
    [3] http://liberalconspiracy.org/2011/02/03/unsolicited-pro-mubarak-text-messages-from-egypt/
    [4] http://www.renesys.com/blog/2011/01/egypt-leaves-the-internet.shtml
    [5] http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/24/us-egypt-mubarak-idUSTRE74N3LG20110524