Egypt

New York, November 6, 2008--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the continued imprisonment of an Egyptian blogger jailed two years ago on Friday.

New York, October 15, 2008--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns an Egyptian court's decision on Saturday to levy steep fines against an editor and reporter for an independent weekly that published a satirical piece about a prominent cleric.

New York, October 6, 2008―The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the presidential pardon today of a two-month jail sentence against Ibrahim Eissa, editor-in-chief of the independent daily Al-Dustour.

New York, September 29, 2008―The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the two-month jail term handed down by a Cairo appeal court to a leading Egyptian editor on Sunday.

New York, September 26, 2008―The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the ongoing detention of a reporter for the independent daily Al-Dustour.

Hossam Al Wakeel, 20, was arrested on Wednesday while covering protests that erupted after “the arbitrary closure” of the Al Jazeera School in the Al Ajami district in Alexandria, his lawyer, Khalaf Bayyoumi, told CPJ. His camera was also confiscated. (The school is unrelated to the media outlet.)

Many in Egypt still dread the month of September. Twenty-seven years ago, the government arbitrarily jailed hundreds of civil society activists of different political and religious leanings, including journalists. The capricious crackdown, which occurred only a few weeks before President Anwar Sadat's assassination on October 6, 1981, by a radical Islamist was spurred by unsubstantiated and politically motivated charges.

The detainees, among them scores of the country's most prominent lawyers, academics, and journalists, were charged with fomenting sedition and undermining the regime's stability and violating its "Law of Shame," which made it illegal to spread rumors likely to damage the state.

Four editors are due to appear before two Cairo appeal courts later this month for defaming President Hosni Mubarak and his top aides and spreading rumors about the aging president's health. Surely, they must have in the back of their minds the ominous crackdown on the media and political dissenters that helped lead Egypt to the brink of disaster in September 1981.

New York, August 11, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is dismayed by the failure of the Egyptian authorities to shed light on the disappearance of a prominent journalist, five years ago today, in one of the most secure districts in Cairo.

Reda Helal, a senior editor at Egypt’s leading state-owned daily Al-Ahram, mysteriously vanished on August 11, 2003, on his way home from work in a heavily guarded area in the center of the Egyptian capital. Helal, who was then 45, lived in an area in downtown Cairo with important state buildings and diplomatic missions, including the Egyptian parliament and both the British and U.S. embassies.

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly protests the continued detention without charge of Mohammed Salah Ahmed Maree, an Egyptian media worker seized by Egyptian authorities while covering riots last month in the northern industrial city of Mahalla al-Kubra.

Dear Mr. Bassiouni, The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to express its deep concern about your company's decision to stop carrying the signal of the London-based Al-Hewar Television. Nilesat, an Egyptian government-owned satellite transmission company, stopped carrying the channel on April 1 without warning or explanation, according to international news reports and Egypt-based journalists. The station remains accessible to viewers on the Atlantic Bird satellite system, according to news reports.

Leading independent editor sentenced to six months in jail New York, March 26, 2008―The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the six-month jail term handed down today to a leading Egyptian editor and urges the appeals court to overturn the conviction. The Boulak Abul Ela Court of Misdemeanor, on the outskirts...