CAIRO: The raid on the offices of Al-Jazeera Mubashar Misr last Sunday has elicited fears of a wider state crackdown on media and free expression in Egypt. On Sunday, Egyptian security services raided the offices of Al-Jazeera Mubashar Misr, Al-Jazeera's live channel on Egyptian affairs. Officers seized broadcasting equipment and arrested one the station's technical engineers. Al-Jazeera Mubashar Misr started its operations in Cairo last February, at a time when many hoped that the achievements of the January 25 Revolution would usher in an era of free media in Egypt. However, recent measures have indicated a state offensive on free media. The Mubashar Misr raid was predicated by a joint-decision made by the Military Council and the Council of Ministers on September 7 that ceased approval for any new broadcasting licenses in Egypt. As part of the decision, officials ordered that police take necessary measures to prevent unlicensed stations from broadcasting. Last week, officials also issued a decision that banned the broadcast of the trial of former President Hosni Mubarak, in which Field Marshal Tantawi, the head of the Military Council, was supposed to testify. Critics of the interim-government fear a growing state crackdown on the freedom of expression, especially in light of the coming election season. “There will be more pressure on the media during the election season. What is happening now indicates that we will not have free elections. If they can interfere at any point to censor information, then this will really affect elections,” Mohamed Zaree, a Program Manager at the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, told Bikyamasr.com. “What happened in the Al-Jazeera office cannot be taken out of the context of a larger-scale campaign in Egypt. The regime is closing down, and there are no criteria for freedom of the press… We are facing a regime more dangerous than Mubarak's,” he added. For months, the ruling military council has summoned journalists and bloggers for questioning about their writings and broadcasts. Perhaps most iconic was the arrest of Egyptian activist Asma Mahfouz last month for reportedly inciting violence on her Twitter page. The charges against Mahfouz were later dropped. “All these disordered procedures and measures that are based on elastic and illegal reasons and applied by the interim authorities everyday the same way the disposed president did,” said the Arab Network for Human Rights Information in a recent press release. On September 11, officials in Cairo declared that emergency law in Egypt would continue until June of 2012. In previous statements, officials claimed that the emergency law would end before elections this November. Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Jean-François Julliard is among those concerned. “We fear a security clampdown in Egypt, with the use of all the provisions of the state of emergency law to impose order and gag the media,” he said in a recent statement. Under the continued emergency law, officials may search and arrest without a warrant and may prohibit groups of more than five from meeting without permission from the ministry of interior. BM
