CAIRO: A recent editorial published by the Washington Post on democracy and human rights in Egypt and Washington's approach in dealing with these issues raised controversy at the Egyptian Embassy in Washington last week. The media advisor to the Egyptian Embassy in Washington, DC, Karim Haggag, defended in his response to the editorial the political approach adopted by the Egyptian government and denied what was reported in the editorial, “Obama`s Mission in Egypt,” over the existence of a crackdown on independent media or a campaign of media repression, in reference to the recent crisis of the firing of top independent editor, Ibrahim Eissa, of al-Dostour newspaper. The media advisor said the Egyptian government has had “no hand in the firing of Ibrahim Eissa, which was the result of a private dispute with the new owners of the newspaper.” Since his dismissal, Eissa has had a number of offers from other local independent publications for work, but as yet has not moved to a new post as hundreds of journalists from al-Dostour continue to protest and strike. Haggag denied the government revoked licenses for 17 satellite channels, saying it had “suspended the broadcast only because they incite hatred against religious groups.” The government also recently imposed a license restriction on the use of SMS services by newspapers, but Haggag said “it was a necessary step to keep pace with the market, which is changing rapidly and not to undermine the messages service.” He added that all Egyptian newspapers are automatically granted these licenses, and are being awarded licenses for live broadcast that will function in the country during the election period “are being given these licenses for the live broadcast of the elections process.” He affirmed that this is incompatible with the arguments about the existence of a crackdown campaign against opposition movements and the media, pointing out that Egypt is the Arab world's “best country” that “enjoys the existence of an open and diverse media environment.” He also pointed out that the next Parliamentary elections will be subject to the supervision of the Supreme Election Commission, chaired by independent judges, not appointed by the President, and that representatives of the candidates, Egyptian civil society and the media will monitor the polls and the process of calculating the votes. BM
