Alam al-Youm

New York, March 8, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a Kuwaiti court’s decision to fine a journalist and two newspapers for statements deemed offensive to the ruling family and the prime minister.

Reda Helal vanished in central Cairo four years ago. Now, even the memory of the prominent state editor has nearly disappeared. Why have the government and the press ignored his case?

The Egyptian Journalists Syndicate mounted a widespread campaign to pressure President Hosni Mubarak to fulfill a February 2004 promise to decriminalize press offenses. More than 20 newspapers went on strike for a day in July as part of the campaign, which many journalists credit with the last-minute deletion of a controversial amendment to the penal code. Mubarak removed a provision that would have stipulated prison sentences of up to three years for journalists who defamed public officials by alleging corruption. The provision was aimed at silencing independent and opposition newspapers that had increasingly carried reports on corruption scandals and influence peddling that allegedly involved high-ranking state officials and Mubarak’s son and heir apparent, Gamal Mubarak.

New York, May 25, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by attacks on the Egyptian press related to coverage of alleged election fraud and protests over judicial independence. The Egyptian state security prosecutor brought criminal charges on Wednesday against three journalists who alleged fraud in last year’s parliamentary elections. Security and police officers assaulted several journalists covering demonstrations today in support of judicial independence. And five journalists remain in detention today after being arrested at earlier demonstrations on judicial independence.

New York, May 11, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that Egyptian police and security officers assaulted several journalists covering protests today in support of two judges facing dismissal for criticizing last year’s parliamentary elections. Several journalists detained while covering similar protests last month are still being held.

Plainclothes police and security officers beat and detained Abeer al-Askary, a journalist for the independent weekly Al-Dustour, according to two CPJ sources. Al-Askary was set to interview several lawyers and judges at the Bar Association this morning. When she arrived, those sources said, several men grabbed her, took her to an area where security vehicles were parked, and beat her.

New York, May 5, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists joins acclaimed Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz in calling on Arab governments to free jailed journalists including two Egyptian reporters detained last week while covering demonstrations in Cairo. Mahfouz, who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for literature, launched his appeal in an interview with the semi-official Egyptian daily Al-Ahram on Wednesday, World Press Freedom day.

New York, April 27, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the arrest of Al-Jazeera TV’s Cairo bureau chief, and the separate detention of three print journalists, by Egypt’s state security prosecutor.

Hussein Abdel Ghani, head of the Qatar-based satellite channel in Egypt, was arrested yesterday on charges of propagating false news while covering the aftermath of Monday’s bomb attacks in the Red Sea resort of Dahab, which killed at least 18 people. He was released late Thursday by the state security prosecutor in Cairo on bail of 10,000 Egyptian pounds (US$1700), human rights lawyers told CPJ.