Egypt has blocked 21 websites it claims “support terrorism” and “spread lies” in a move free speech advocates fear will further stifle free expression.

Among the banned websites is that of the Qatari-based Al Jazeera network, which Egypt has accused of carrying out a hostile media campaign against the country and of spreading Muslim Brotherhood propaganda. The move follows similar bans imposed on Qatar’s official websites by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates earlier in the week over “controversial” statements about Iran and Israel attributed to the Qatari ruler and published on the Qatari state-run news agency website.

The majority of the websites blocked by Egypt are pro-Muslim Brotherhood news sites and were either founded by members of the outlawed Islamist group or are funded by Qatar, with which Egypt is at odds over the Gulf state’s sympathetic views toward ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

However, at least one of the blocked websites — the privately owned Mada Masr news platform — is neither linked to Islamists nor sponsored by the “enemy” Gulf state. Mada Masr is an Egyptian independent news portal founded in mid-2013 by a group of liberal journalists who formerly worked for Egypt Independent, an English-language newspaper that closed in April 2013. In a statement released May 25, Mada Masr informed readers that they could access the website “through proxies and cached copies,” defiantly vowing “to continue to publish through existing platforms as well as our website.”