Egyptian intellectuals staged a protest against recent constraints on journalists in downtown Cairo, Ahmed Morsy reports Owing to their concerns about freedom of expression, creativity, thought and the press, Egyptian intellectuals staged a protest on Thursday to voice their opposition to the deteriorating conditions of freedom. The protest, which took place at Talaat Harb Square downtown in the evening, aimed to send a clear message about the position of intellectuals in relation to the draft constitution, in particular to those sections of it relating to freedom of expression and the press. The protest was planned through Facebook on an event page called "No to suppressing freedoms and silencing voices". The page was administrated by journalists Rania Ibrahim from Al-Masry Al-Youm and Sayed Mahmoud, from the state-owned Al-Ahram. Journalists, writers, artists and political figures who were present at the protest denounced the detention of Islam Afifi, the editor-in-chief of the independent Al-Dostour daily newspaper, who is charged with offending President Mohamed Mursi in the press and was released by a presidential pardon on Friday. Afifi's detention generated controversy among politicians and journalists, who saw it as a violation of basic press freedoms reminiscent of the ousted Mubarak regime. Afifi had been arrested earlier on Thursday, which prompted over 300 protesters to take action. "Basically, I am participating in order to protect freedom of creativity and thought for all Egyptians," artist Refki El-Razzaz told Al-Ahram Weekly, adding that the imprisonment of Afifi was one of his motives. Angered reactions to Afifi's detention had spread on Twitter under the hashtag of "No to the imprisonment of journalists," with several political groups and activists issuing statements condemning the action. In addition, human rights organisations such as the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, along with international organisations like Reporters without Borders also condemned Afifi's detention. "Though I'm against the detention of journalists, I also cannot defend a journalist mocking or insulting the president as this tarnishes the fair practice of constructive criticism," El-Razzaz added. According to Article 179 of Egypt's Press Law, "whoever affronts the president of the republic" can be subject to detention. Yet screenwriter Medhat El-Adl believes that confinement on charges of insulting the president is not acceptable. "It's not acceptable, since the word 'insulting' is elastic; one person can find something humiliating in a statement while another finds it fair. We therefore call for a commission or union of trusted senior journalists and artists to be responsible for preventing such flaws according to specific criteria agreed on by all," El-Adl said during the protest. "We are here today because we feel that freedoms are in danger and we are protesting against a general condition, not a person." Minutes prior to the time of the protest, President Mursi issued a new law revoking the Mubarak-era law of temporarily detaining journalists for so-called "publication offences," including the charge of "offending the president of the republic". But local media reported on Thursday night that Egypt's public prosecutor had already ordered Afifi's release. Presidential spokesman Yasser Ali said on Thursday that Mursi's decision to put an end to the practice of pre-trial jailing of journalists with press offences was the first instance of the the president using his legislative authority, which Mursi took over from SCAF earlier this month. "We thank the president for his decision; such a move is only to be expected from the elected president after our 25 January revolution. Nevertheless, we were not waiting for the president to take action because the president should not be required to intervene in all issues as was the case in the ousted regime." So El-Adl commented on Mursi's decision which he found out about during the protest. Likewise, El-Razzaz expressed respect for the quick decision. The protest comes one week after a number of measures were taken to prevent some prominent writers from contributing to popular newspapers, as new editors in chief of public newspapers were appointed by the Shura Council. Hence, the protest aimed to put pressure on the current leadership to reverse the gloomy trend that started with changing the editors-in-chief of state-owned publications on 9 August and climaxed to pressing charges against the head of Al-Dostour newspaper for allegedly defaming President Mursi. The gathering raised various demands but above all participants wanted to see an end to state infringements on freedoms, such as rejecting articles written by prominent writers, confiscating Al-Dostour newspaper, stopping the transmission of the satellite channel, Faraeen, best known for backing the former regime. "What we've been seeing, from changing the editors-in-chief of government newspapers to suppressing the freedom of thought, may be only the beginning of a new age of repression," Mona Ezzat, a journalist and political activist, told the Weekly. "We need the Muslim Brotherhood to lift its hand off culture and creativity. In addition, we cannot accept their intervention in all the country's institutions," Ezzat added, referring to "the ikhwanisation of the state". For her part, Ezzat sees Mursi's decision as identical to Mubarak's decisions in similar circumstances �ê" a temporary sedative measure �ê" as was the case when when he pardoned Al-Dostour newspaper's former editor-in-chief Ibrahim Eissa, who was sentenced to two months in prison for publishing an article on the president's health in 2008. "Muslim Brotherhood members were oppressed and detained under Mubarak; they know what oppression feels like, and I truly wonder how they can do as was done to them," the well-known artist Salah Anani said. "The constitution needs to be written in such a way as to safeguard the freedom of the press and of creativity." And the new constitution currently being drafted was one of the main focuses of the protest. Demonstrators believed that this will be the only guarantee of press and creative freedom. Participants held banners calling for a constitution for "all Egyptians" that does not represent only one faction of society. Wael El-Semari, a journalist and poet, considers the real challenge to be the constitution; he senses the risk that it will limit freedoms even more than the previous regime did. "We will not accept the dominance of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) and Al-Nour Party in the Constituent Assembly," El-Semari asserted. "The new constitution shouldn't limit freedoms. Nonetheless, we are not asking for our freedom back, because nobody can take it away from us it in the first place." Journalistic figures such as Adel Hamouda, Abdel-Halim Qandil, Saad Hagras, Khaled Salah and many more participated, as well as politician and former MP Amr Hamzawi, who appeared with his wife, actress Basma. The demonstration witnessed not only writers and intellectuals but a number of scholars from Al-Azhar, the Sunni world's religious authority based in Cairo. They too were calling for freedom and protesting against the dictatorship of the Muslim Brotherhood, which they see as exceeding that of the Mubarak regime. "We reject any draft of the constitution if it represents only one faction of society. If things don't change we will call on people to refuse the constitution in the referendum," Sheikh Moahmed El-Aswani, spokesperson for the the Azharites for Civil State movement, said. He concluded by saying: "No one can stand against Al-Azhar even the Muslim Brotherhood."
