CAIRO: Egyptian newspaper columnists protested military censorship of the Egyptian media today by publishing blank columns. More than a dozen columnists participated in the protest, including prominent writers. Youm7 Editor-in-Chief Khaled Salah participated in the strike, as did prominent columnist Belal Fadl, who writes for Al-Tahrir. Al-Tahrir is a post-revolution publication edited by Ibrahim Eissa. Nicknamed ‘Blank Columns,' the initiative intends to protest against military censorship imposed on Egyptian newspapers. Columnists and writers threatened to escalate their strike if the censorship continues. Others who participated in the strike included Adel Hamouda, Editor –in-Chief of independent newspaper al-Fagr; Amr el-Leithy, Editor-in-Chief of independent weekly newspaper el-Khamis; Youm7 writers Said el-Shahat, Akram el-Qasas, Adel el-Sanhory, Abdel Rahman Youssif, Wael el-Semary, and Ola el-Shafei; and Al-Tahrir writers Omer Taher, Naglaa Bedir and Tarek el-Shenawy. According to a report by Ahram Online, other writers wanted to participate in the strike but were prevented from doing so. Among them is Amr Hamzawy, a prominent thinker who writes a column for independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm. According to Ahram, “Hamzawy said newspapers such as al-Shorouq and Al-Masry Al-Youm refused to run protest blank columns, because of ‘depressing' editorial decisions.” Three Al-Tahrir writers – Belal Fadl, Omar Taher and Naglaa Bedir – wrote in place of their columns, “I withhold my writing today to protest the barring, impounding of newspapers and the presence there of military censorship.” The campaign comes after government officials raided the offices of Al-Jazeera Mubasher Misr twice in one month. Some newspapers have been sent back to the press or prevented from printing certain articles, according to the Associated Press, and independent daily Rose al-Youssef has been prevented from publishing for two weeks.
