Development & Aid, Education, Headlines, Human Rights, Middle East & North Africa

RIGHTS-EGYPT: Censorship Chills University Life, Report Charges

Isaac Baker

NEW YORK, Jun 9 2005 (IPS) - Academic freedom in Egypt is being constantly undermined by both the government and private groups through censorship, intimidation of students and professors, and even threats and physical violence, according to a report by a leading human rights organisation released Thursday.

“Repression by government authorities and private groups has affected every major component of university life, including the classroom, research, student activities, and campus protests,” says the report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW).

“The authorities should end their excessive and arbitrary interference in the activities of scholars, students and universities,” Joe Stork, HRW’s deputy Middle East director, said in a statement.

The 107-page report, titled “Reading between the ‘Red Lines’: The Repression of Academic Freedom in Egyptian Universities,” is based on research from an HRW fact-finding mission in 2003.

Research was mainly conducted at Cairo University and the American University of Cairo (AUC), two of Egypt’s oldest and most prestigious universities, and also involved interviews with students and professors at Shams, Alexandria, and Hilwan Universities.

The report documents a wide variety on ongoing abuses at these universities. These constant violations of academic freedom by both state and non-state actors, the report says, have caused great harm to academia and scholarship in Egypt, a country that has historically been considered the educational centre of the region.

“The government’s persistent violations of academic freedom have badly undermined Egypt’s standing as the educational leader of the Arab world,” Stork said.

The report details the Egyptian government’s use of state security forces to monitor classroom discussions and keep students and professors from “crossing red lines” – discussing taboo subjects such sex, politics, and interpretation of the Quran.

In addition to censoring classroom discussions, these police forces have detained, attacked, and allegedly even tortured candidates for student office who have expressed dissident views.

“Professors and especially students described the police presence as one of the major obstacles to academic freedom in higher education,” the report says.

The report also decries Egypt’s policy requiring all deans at public universities to be appointed by the state, a process which has been in effect since 1994. This policy, HRW says, gives the government too much sway in internal university affairs as deans who support Egypt’s ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) are given preference.

Censorship of university materials is also rampant in Egypt, the report says, describing what it calls a “censorship regime.”

An Egyptian law states that all printed material being imported must first pass through the government’s Ministry of Information for review. This law has allowed for the blocking of many books, including classic literature that deals with sexual topics.

In addition to wide-ranging government interference in Egypt’s universities, HRW also says the government does not do enough to protect academics and students from threats and physical attack by Islamic extremists.

“Islamist militants have intimidated academics in all four areas of university life: the classroom, research, student activities, and campus protests,” the report says.

Academics and intellectuals who have researched or discussed controversial religious and moral topics have been publicly denounced, legally challenged, and physically attacked by extremists. This has created an environment of fear and self-censorship, where many professors leave controversial religious issues alone due to fear of retribution from militants, HRW says.

Many professors and students say the effect on the free exchange of ideas in Egyptian universities has been devastating.

“The atmosphere of terror [they have created] has aborted intellectual life,” the report quotes Al-Sayyid al-Sirwi, a literature professor at Hilwan Univesity, as saying.

However, while HRW blasts the Egyptian government for failing to protect academics from Islamist militants, it also criticises the government for repressing students with conservative Islamist beliefs.

Egypt has come under criticism for instances in which Islamist students have been harassed, arrested, and have had their religious materials confiscated by police forces at the universities. Many have also been jailed or arbitrarily detained. Some Islamist students have alleged they were tortured while detained.

“When Islamists, or anyone else for that matter, behave in a threatening way, they should be prosecuted,” Stork told IPS. “We’re talking about, however, people who, simply because they happen to be Islamists, and are trying to exercise their rights of free speech as students. They shouldn’t be prosecuted for that.”

Stork told IPS that government repression of academia in Egypt has not subsided since HRW began research for the report in 2003.

“We have continued to monitor the situation. Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s been any change for the better in any of these areas,” he said.

However, Egyptian intellectuals and professors have increasingly taken a stand, especially in the last few years, Stork told IPS. Many have recently formed groups and committees seeking to raise awareness of the abuses of academic freedom in Egypt.