Egypt
Despite explicit constitutional guarantees of a free press, Egyptian authorities
use a variety of tactics to hinder investigative journalism and muzzle
reporting on sensitive domestic issues. Government officials and their
family members often bring seditious libel and other lawsuits against newspapers
in response to allegations of corruption. In one noteworthy example, Magdy
Hussein, editor in chief of the bi-weekly Al-Sha’b—a muckraking
journal which has led a crusade against official impropriety—was the target
of several suits brought by Interior Minister Hassan al-Alfi and his sons.
On September 10, a court suspended the publication of Al-Sha’b for
three issues because of its coverage of a pending libel suit initiated
by the minister against five Al-Sha’b journalists. The move reportedly
marked the first time in Hosni Mubarak’s 16-year presidency that authorities
closed an Egyptian newspaper.
The prosecutions of Hussein and Al-Sha’b underscore the threat
Egyptian law poses for the opposition press. Despite the government’s revocation
of a draconian press law in 1996, journalists remain vulnerable to prosecution
under a host of highly interpretive charges—including "inciting hatred,"
"violating public morality," "harming the national economy," and offending
a foreign head of state. These charges carry prison sentences of one to
two years. Individuals charged with libel offenses face a maximum prison
sentence of one year, and in cases where public officials are involved,
journalists are subject to up to two years in prison. Fines reach as high
as 20,000LE (US$5,900) for each offense.
Officials imposed three media blackouts in September and October: the
first banning all local and foreign coverage of the libel suit between
al Alfi and Al-Sha’b; the second, the military prosecution of individuals
implicated in a deadly attack on tourists in Cairo; and the third quashing
reports on the investigation of a Cairo prostitution ring allegedly involving
noted Egyptian actresses.
Authorities continued a long-standing pattern of harassment and censorship
of the English language-weekly The Middle East Times. Thomas Cromwell,
the paper’s editor and publisher, was expelled from the country on August
22, after Egyptian police detained him for three hours upon his arrival
at Cairo International Airport and informed him that he could not re-enter
the country. The Ministry of Information censored at least nine stories
in the paper that dealt with such topics as discrimination against the
Coptic Christian minority and the activities of outlawed Islamist groups.
In recent years, CPJ has documented numerous instances of government harassment
of the newspaper, including censorship of news articles and the outright
confiscation of issues in response to what the government has viewed as
unfavorable reporting on domestic issues in Egypt.