MEDIA-EGYPT: Anti-American Press Pays the Price

By Emad Mekay Reprint | | Print |

Emad Mekay

CAIRO, Jul 10 2003 (IPS) - The regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak continued its crackdown on media earlier this week as the police banned an anti-American weekly.

The regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak continued its crackdown on media earlier this week as the police banned an anti-American weekly.

The July 2 issue of al-Sadaa of the al-Takaful political party could not come out. Staff are negotiating with security authorities to get the newspaper back on the newsstands.

The newspaper issued a statement that chairman of the newspaper board and secretary-general of al-Takaful, Esam Abdel Razek was summoned by security authorities and told that there were "security concerns" about its editorial policies.

The newspaper was launched in February as the United States prepared to invade Iraq. From its first issue the newspaper took a strong position against a war.

The logo of the newspaper is the U.S. flag being stamped upon by shoes. In one front page story it asked U.S. ambassador to Egypt David Welch to "shut up". Welch had been writing letters and articles in newspapers calling on journalists to tone down their opposition to the war.

Welch wrote in the state-owned newspaper al-Ahram about the merits of the "responsible press". Welch also reportedly met officials over the direction the Egyptian press was taking.

"Our chairman was told by the security authorities that they have problems with the fact that we are trashing the American flag," Yasser Barakat, editor-in- chief of the newspaper told IPS. "They said the newspaper was too anti- American and too anti-Israeli."

Barakat says the newspaper was only expressing a nationalistic view and that the ban is unjustified. Nineteen issues have been released since the first on February 26.

"This is sad and really shameful," he said. "The only thing we did was to expose America and Israel. We also ran articles against corruption both in the government and the private sector."

Managers at the newspaper say its logo would continue to be the trashed U.S. flag "until Palestine and Iraq are liberated."

Egyptian security authorities did not return calls made to request comment.

Some 45 journalists working for the weekly say they will start a sit-in at the Egyptian Press Syndicate Friday until the newspaper is back in print.

The ban has drawn criticism form press freedom groups and human rights activists.

The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR), one of the main rights groups in the country, "considers such forms of interference to be a blatant violation of freedom of the press and the right to freedom of opinion and expression," it said in a statement. "Also, it is evidence of interference in the affairs of political parties, a clear breach of the Egyptian Constitution."

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and the London- based Arab Press Freedom Watch also condemned the decision.

The case is troubling Egyptian journalists particularly because it follows harassment of journalists earlier for expressing anti-American and anti-Israeli views.

Two journalists, Mustapha Bakri and his brother and fellow journalist Mahmoud Bakri, both staunch critics of U.S. policies in the region, were imprisoned a day before U.S. President George W. Bush arrived at the Red Sea resort Sharm el-Sheikh for a peace meeting with regional leaders.

Journalists say the two were arrested after an old case against them was quickly dusted off. Each was sentenced to a year in prison for libel. They were later released.

A controversial law passed in 1996 provides for prison sentences for libel, "insults" and "putting out false news." Five journalists and a cyber-dissident were given jail terms last year, and two others were still in prison at the end of the year under this law.

There are no laws to regulate Internet publishing, but the interior ministry set up a department in September last year to monitor information about Egypt and the regime on the Internet. Journalists say incidents of censorship, banning of newspapers, and prosecution of journalists who criticise the United States have increased as a result. They say this has created an atmosphere of intimidation.

The military regime in Egypt, which enjoys the blessings of the United States, has taken an aggressive line against people who protested against the war, and later the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Hundreds are reported to have been arrested since the war began March 20.

The regime says it is using powers given to it by the emergency law as a part of the global fight against terrorism.

Egypt has been under emergency rule for most of the past 35 years, and continuously since the assassination of former president Anwar Sadat in October 1981.

Top Egyptian officials frequently cite the September 11, 2001 attacks to justify repressive policies and the crackdown on anti-American sentiment.