Saudi Arabia to ban more websites

Saudi Arabia is planning to bar access to another 200,000 Internet sites within the next two months, a Saudi newspaper reported today.

The Iqtisadiyahdaily quoted IT sources as saying that the forthcoming ban would double the number of sites users cannot access.

The move is part of the conservative Muslim kingdom's drive to censor media that the government deems immoral or un-Islamic.

This censorship is necessary to prevent users from seeing illegal sites, the newspaper said, without giving details.

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia, which introduced access to the Internet in 1999, also bans the consumption of alcohol and forbids women from driving.

The state telecommunications authority is the nation's only Internet provider.