When Hosni Mubarak's regime fell in February 2011, Hisham Allam was in the newsroom of the daily Al-Masry Al-Youm thinking the days of crackdowns on the media were finally over. But two years after the revolution, he believes that the situation “got worse” with his new workplace, the daily Al-Watan, frequently attacked for its anti-Muslim Brotherhood policy. Allam's concerns about media freedom in Egypt are echoed in several local and international rights groups' reports issued last week on the occasion of the World Press Freedom day (3 May). In its report on Egypt, Reporters Without Borders — the France-based media watchdog — put Egypt on the list of countries ruled by “Predators of Freedom of Information”: “Members and supporters of the Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi's Freedom and Justice Party [FJP] have been responsible for harassing and physically attacking independent media and journalists critical of the party,” the group stated. The list released by the group includes 39 “presidents, politicians, religious leaders, militias and criminal organisations that censor, imprison, kidnap, torture and kill journalists and other news providers”. Five new predators have been added to the list including the new Chinese president, Xi Jinping, the Jihadi group Jabhat Al-Nusra in Syria, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Pakistan's Baloch armed groups, and the Maldives' religious extremists. Media figure Yasser Abdel-Aziz said the freedom of journalists is heavily affected by political polarisation between Islamist and secular political groups. “Moreover, the new constitution does not prohibit the detention in publishing cases,” he said. In the 39 predators list, Reporters without Borders publish an imaginary profile for each “predator” describing hostile policies against media freedoms. Commenting on the move, Reporters Without Borders stated that “to show how some predators really think, we have presented their innermost thoughts in the first person. We had to use a little imagination, of course, but the facts alluded to conform to reality.” The Muslim Brotherhood's imaginary profile reads: “The more unpopular we [Brotherhood] are in certain circles, the more radical we become. Prosecutions for defamation, insulting the president and offending religion come thick and fast.” The statement referred to the investigation of Egypt's most popular satirist Bassem Youssef by the prosecution. Youssef was questioned for content in his weekly television programme after being accused of insulting religion and “public morality”. The profile added that Brotherhood figures and their Islamist allies have repeatedly come out against media outlets that oppose Islamists. President Morsi himself has voiced accusations of corruption and biased reporting. “Lawyers and politicians who belong to the party have stepped up prosecutions of journalists who criticise and deride us. The prosecutor-general, Talaat Abdallah, who was appointed by President Morsi himself, is an effective ally in our efforts to muzzle the media,” the imaginary profile said. The Muslim Brotherhood's imaginary profile also accused the FJP of approving a cover for its supporters to attack and besiege media organisations headquarters. “Our supporters have also taken to besieging the Media City in Cairo, where the main independent television stations have their offices, in protest against ‘biased' media reporting,” the Reporters Without Borders added in its profile about the Muslim Brotherhood. Salafi protesters, aligned with the Brotherhood and led by disqualified presidential candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, laid siege frequently to Egypt's Media Production City, the headquarters for many opposition television channels, over the last few months. The group also listed attacks by Brotherhood members and supporters on journalists last December during clashes outside the presidential palace and in March, when journalists were covering clashes outside Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Muqattam.” The NGO also mentioned the photographer Al-Husseini Abu Deif, who was shot with a rubber bullet in clashes between pro- and anti-Morsi protesters at the presidential palace last December. Abu Deif died after a coma induced by his injury. Hani Salaheddin, a senior leader at the Muslim Brotherhood, said violations reported by the NGOs are due to the unstable political and security situation of the country, not to the ruling FJP party being against the freedom of expression. He added that the president has ordered the withdrawal of all legal complaints made by the presidency against journalists. “The president has been supportive of press freedom since he took office. In his first month as president he issued an order that prevents pre-trial detention for journalists in cases related to the freedom of expressions.” Salaheddin added that the government has approved all new requests for newspaper and TV channel licences over the last 10 months, despite the fact that “most of them anti-Muslim Brotherhood.” Gamal Eid, the director of the Arabi Network for Human Rights Information, said journalists in Egypt suffer various kinds of abuses like beatings, the breaking of cameras, detention during protests and judiciary pursuit for prominent journalists and media figures. He added that the government led by Muslim Brotherhood has done nothing to protect the freedom of the media in Egypt. On the contrary they have “mocked journalists who are calling for their freedoms”, he said, referring to the Minister of Information Salah Abdel-Maksoud — a Brotherhood member — who has been criticised for public disrespect of women journalists. Two weeks ago when a female reporter asked him in a press conference about media freedom in Egypt, the minister replied, “Come and I'll tell you where they are in private,” which many saw as sexual harassment. The reporter later filed a complaint accusing Abdel-Maksoud of “defamation”. Locally, the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE) released an index documenting violations that took place against journalists in Egypt over the last year. AFTE indicates that print journalists face the biggest share of violations against journalists in Egypt, with 61 assaults. They are followed by TV journalists, who have experienced 32 violations. AFTE has counted four violations reported by digital media journalists. Violations include court orders against journalists, complaints filed against them, investigations, arrests and assaults. Journalists have also reported that their equipment was broken or damaged. According to AFTE's records, at least 10 journalists have been assaulted and seven have been arrested or kidnapped. Another four reporters were accused of insulting the president and five were accused of contempt of religion. In addition to the index, AFTE released a video documenting physical assaults against journalists. The video includes testimonies from victims of the violence. “The association calls on the Egyptian authorities to stop their systematic and deliberate targeting of journalists. This is considered a grave violation of the freedom of the press, which is supposed to be protected by law and the Egyptian constitution,” AFTE said at the end of the video. “The more the restrictions on freedom of the press, the greater the risks to the public's right to access information.”
