As part of ongoing projects to strengthen the legal regime against terrorism in Egypt and Iraq, the UNODC Terrorism Prevention Branch (UNODC/TPB) organized a national joint workshop on the use of the Internet for terrorist purposes and on countering incitement to terrorism, held from 23 to 26 February 2015 in Cairo.
The workshop was attended by 66 participants, including 60 Egyptian and Iraqi law enforcement and criminal justice officers and six international experts from the Italian Arma dei Carabinieriand the Spanish Guardia Civil.
After a situational analysis of the use of the Internet for terrorist purposes and the need to establish technical and legal tools to conduct investigations, the four-day workshop continued with a series of technical presentations by senior international experts with a strong focus on special techniques to investigate Internet-based terrorist offences. The participants also discussed very technical aspects related to criminal investigation through wireless VoIP and Skype, preservation and protection of digital evidence and the use of social networks.
Through concrete cases and simulation exercises, experts and national participants explored good practices and brainstormed on common challenges. Each presentation was supplemented by a simulation exercise in order to immediately apply methods presented by the experts. The opportunity to use laptops and a high-speed Internet connection during the simulation exercises demonstrated experts the indispensability of software programmes to conduct a successful investigation over the Internet.
The workshop was part of the current plan of actions between the governments of Egypt and Iraq and UNODC/TPB, for which the activities are generously funded by the Government of Japan. Both the donor and the beneficiary counterparts expressed their full support to UNODC/TPB's technical assistance provided to the two countries and reiterated their commitment to further facilitate cooperation with UNODC/TPB.