CAIRO: Following several incidents regarding Egyptian journalists, the press syndicate put together a closed discussion on the status of press freedom and its future in Egypt, honoring three "courageous journalists. Over the past few months, harassment of reporters and press personnel has contradicted all expectations of a free press. The ruling party assured the public that Egypt is passing through a period of reform, using words like democracy, transparency and truth. Meanwhile, the wave of democracy and political growth has yet to encompass the Egyptian press, where some are being imprisoned, harassed and punished for doing their duty. Promises by President Hosni Mubarak that press laws would be amended to prohibit the imprisonment of journalists for publishing and print cases were not met. Calls of international human rights and reporters rights groups urging Egypt's authorities to grant the press more freedom and grant journalists their full rights were disregarded. According to the press syndicate's official lawyer, at least two journalists are called upon by the Prosecutor General on a daily basis to answer petitions and complaints of libel and slander raised against them. More often than not, "the complaints turn out to be unfounded [and] they waste precious time, says the lawyer. In addition, the press syndicate, as a legal entity, is precluded from standing as a third party in journalists' court cases. According to one syndicate member, when the syndicate supports journalists, judiciary bodies ignore their statements and deem the syndicate an "intruder. Their petitions, when a violation against the press occurs, are often ignored. Cases of violation, a first of their kind, were also one of the reasons the syndicate said they called for the high-profile discussion. In the past few weeks alone, Al-Wafd's internal strife has lead its overthrown Chairman Noaman Gomaa to bar the publication of the decades-old party newspaper for four days, dismissing both its managing editor and editor-in-chief. Three reporters from Al-Fajr newspaper were given harsh sentences in libel cases, in absentia and in the absence of their lawyers. Investigations into the cases of female journalists, who were allegedly harassed while covering the riots and protests on the day of a key vote, were abruptly closed by the Prosecutor General's office. Their cases were said to be "accidental and the perpetrators were considered "unknown. In addition, the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm could not be found on newsstands last Friday as the distribution company, owned by the national newspaper Al-Ahram, delayed its distribution until Saturday at noon. The newspaper's editor said that "they had not been given a reason for the delay. They could only speculate. One reason put forth by an Al-Masry Al-Youm reporter was that Al-Ahram may have been given orders by the Egyptian security to temporarily ban the paper for publishing "an unwanted yet bold interview. "The press cannot work properly under an oppressive system, said Muhammad Abdel-Qodous, Islamist writer and one of the speakers at the syndicate's discussion. "What happened, for example, in the case of Al-Masry Al-Youm was a result of the Interior Ministry intentionally barring the paper on that day . Closing the cases of the [female] journalists . These were all slaps on our faces [as journalists and members of the syndicates]. "It has become the norm now that journalists are susceptible to imprisonment because of their opinions and because of writing the truth, says Diaa Rashwan, of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. According to Rashwan, no reconciliation short of changing the press laws could make up for all the present violations. "We need a clear law to state that it is illegal and unconstitutional to put writers and journalists behind bars, said Rashwan. In agreement, Abdullah El-Sinnawy, editor of the socialist party newspaper Al-Arabi, said that the status of reporters is saddening. El-Sinnawy deemed the promise to free press "unreal, saying that it was not intended to be put in motion. "I do not even comprehend the judiciary and legal basis that journalists and people of opinion are tried upon. When there is absence of malice, there is no case, said El-Sinnawy. "The cases of harassment against journalists stand as a barrier to making plans for the future of the press, which is considered the mirror of how much democracy and reform are really present in a country. According to El-Sinnawy, the press in Egypt has lost its "dominion over events. "Even the national papers have turned into state-owned papers, says El Sinnawy, who said he believed that "nothing and no one gives the right for a state to own or control a newspaper. "Distribution of newspapers has failed dramatically and they have lost credibility. National papers and state-owned media failed to convince and now they want to copy the opposition and party papers [in the way they cover events], said El-Sinnawy. El-Sinnawy was supported by Magdy El-Galad, editor of Al-Masry Al-Youm, who said that when national papers failed to cover the truth and sell their lies to the public, they resorted to other ways. In the beginning, the national newspapers used to intentionally ignore riot and protest coverage and any opposition activities for that matter, says El-Galad. "Now they want to imitate us, they began to cover [these events] to give the impression that they are free and objective. However, they are not. "Their coverage is full of color . They color their stories so that the facts appear in the way they want them to; they're presenting the angle that suits their agenda, says El-Galad. "Things are covered so differently [in national and independent papers]. It's paradoxical . You would think the two [groups of] newspapers belong to different countries. Following his speech, El-Galad announced that Egypt's independent newspapers decided last Saturday to form their own independent distribution company so as not to be controlled by national newspaper's distribution companies. The Al-Masry Al-Youm Friday issue delay has only opened their eyes, says El-Galad. The distribution, owned by the national press, has been controlling them and setting sales for them for years, according to El-Galad. "It is time we control our own sales and distribution, states El-Galad, "and let the market decide. During the discussion, the syndicate honored three Al-Masry Al-Youm reporters for their courage in reporting the truth and doing their "honorable duty. The three journalists had written a story that allegedly accused the former housing minister Ibrahim Soliman of corruption. The latter filed a case against the journalists, who were sentenced in absentia, to one year imprisonment and LE 10,000 each. As they took their case to the cassation court, their sentences are still pending. "It was a very painful experience, says Alaa Al-Ghatrify, one of the three journalists. "As we were re-trialed, we stood in a cage among killers and drug dealers . There is no respect for a journalist and the syndicate must press more for that [missing] respect. According to Al-Ghatrify, "The minister Ibrahim Soliman came to court solely to see us behind bars; he wanted us to be a live example of what could happen to anyone who thinks he [or she] can criticize the government. "As painful as it is, this is just one step towards gaining our freedom; the freedom to write [the truth], said Youssef Al-Oumy, another Al-Masry Al-Youm journalist.
