Cairo - An Egyptian court issued a ruling Tuesday blocking foreign pornographic websites, saying they hurt national and social security. Judge Mohamed Attiya said that "keeping these websites available and not blocking them is not part of the freedom of expression, because what is published on these websites affects ... national and social security."

"Freedoms and public rights are not absolute, they are limited by respecting the nature of the family which is the base of this society," the state news agency MENA quoted the ruling as saying.

Typically such rulings carry the force of law unless the Egyptian government registers specific objections to such a ruling. The government on Tuesday gave no indication it would do so.

An Egyptian lawyer, Nizar Ghorab, filed the case, calling the websites offensive to religion and traditions.

Gamal Eid, the Executive Director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), said that his organization opposes the ruling, because the website ban was drafted by a judge with no background in internet issues.

"We are against these websites, yet, as part of our campaign for the freedom to use the internet, we urge for establishing a sepcialized court to take decisions in such cases," Eid told the German Press Agency dpa.

"The increase in internet users requires establishing such a court, where a specialized judge will be able to rule. Or else, this will expand to blocking other kinds of websites, such as art and heritage, with the pretext they present 'porn,'" he said, "and even blocking newspapers".

Although the Egyptian government has blocked political opposition websites before, it has never blocked pornographic sites.

According to Egypt's National Telecom Regulatory Authority, there are currently around 12 million Egyptian Internet users.