We are talking about the situation of journalists and bloggers in Egypt, as two of them have just been arrested in what is the world’s third prison for journalists.
Far behind China and just behind Saudi Arabia, Egypt is the country with the most detained journalists, 31 according to the RSF, listing two newcomers to Egyptian prisons: Amer Abdel Moneim, editor-in-chief of the daily Al-Shaab, and blogger Shady Abou Zeid. The charges are indicative of this oppressive regime: the first is accused of “spreading fake news” and “participating in terrorist activities”, the second of “defamation of the Interior Ministry” after a satirical video captured by police officers.
It is no coincidence that the Independence Award in 2020, awarded by the RSF, was awarded to a female journalist (more and more of them are imprisoned around the world), and what’s more to a journalist. Egyptian. Her name? Lina Attalah. It was she who founded the online journal Mada Masr, Masr as the domain name of Egypt. Lina Attalah runs a place known for its independence but which has seen its entry cut off in Egypt for three years.
It is like a country that passed laws on media and cybercrime in 2018, which allow journalists to be imprisoned and independent websites shut down. In the name of the fight against terrorism and the Muslim Brotherhood, more than 500 websites have been blocked since the summer of 2017. RSF recalls that journalists spend years in detention before the trial without being tried, while others are subjected to heavy sentences of unfair trials.
Under Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, the media has all gone into the hands of power, and simple posts on social media can lead to imprisonment. It is not only information about politics or the military that is under surveillance. Economic issues are also important insofar as they sometimes reveal corruption or uncontrolled inflation. As for foreign journalists, they may also, as evidenced by Covid’s death, a few days after his release from prison worry about an Al Jazeera collaborator.
The pandemic is, of course, another reason to accuse false new alarming information. Of these, President Macron could have spoken to Marshal Sissi during his visit to Paris on 7 December. But the French head of state preferred to make freedom of the press and caricature a very local tradition, while hiding as much as possible the official images of his Egyptian host’s visit. Freedom of expression is, it must be remembered, Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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