Mehleb: No new laws for journalists or media professionals

Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb said that no new laws will be forced upon journalists during a meeting on Saturday with head of the Journalists Syndicate, Diaa Rashwan, and head of the Supreme Press Council, Galal Aref.

Mehleb stressed that the government will not impose any laws on journalists or media professionals, and “will make sure to reach consensus among all concerned parties before making any legislative changes,” state-owned EgyNews online portal reported.

According to Mehleb, a committee of media figures and headed by the justice minister has been formed to assist the Cabinet with laws and legislation related to media and journalism. He added that the government “supports freedom of press,” but emphasized the “necessity of adhering to the ethics and morals of the profession.”

State-owned Al-Ahram newspaper reported that the committee will consist of 24 members, including six representatives from the Journalists Syndicate, six from the Supreme Press Council, as well as 12 from the Radio and Television Union, the Media Syndicate and private satellite channels. 

Released names include head of the Journalists Syndicate Diaa Rashwan, Secretary Karem Mahmoud, Treasurer Khaled Miri, as well as Gamal Fahmy, Gamal Abdel Haleem, and Khaled al-Balshy.

Members from the Supreme Press Council are the head of the council, Galal Aref, in addition to Salah Eissa, Mohamed Salmawy, Emad Mekkawi and Nour Eddin Farahat.

Other names Al-Ahram reported were Hamdi Qandeel, Mona al-Shazly, Amr al-Kahky and Hafez al-Mirazy. 

The committee, which is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, is assigned with writing draft laws activating constitutional articles related to the press and media. The drafts will be revised, phrased and prepared for issuance by a smaller joint committee involving representatives of the government.

“We would like this committee to utilize legislation and laws present in the most democratic countries of the world,” said Mehleb. 

However, fear has risen among journalists that the committee will be used to target them in the context of the current crackdown against freedom of expression that, until now, has focused on opposition figures and human rights workers. 

On Thursday, chief editor of the privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper, Ali al-Sayed, and reporter Ahmed Youssef, were released by State Security Prosecution, with a LE2,000 fine, after 14 hours of interrogation over the newspaper’s declaration that it would publish investigation records into alleged fraud in the 2012 presidential elections.

Sayed and Youssef faced accusations of unsettling national peace, spreading false information, stealing interrogation records, and publishing news about a case still under investigation by the judiciary. The prosecutor general had issued a gag order on the case on Tuesday following Al-Masry Al-Youm’s declaration, which the newspaper vowed to honor.

The Ministry of Interior had also accused the two journalists of stealing investigation records. Sayed had responded by saying that the ministry was trying to silence voices of dissent and close down newspapers.

“This is a dangerous step towards restricting freedom of expression, and threatens the return to oppressive practices, against which Egyptians revolted in previous eras,” he added.

Moreover, a number of journalists remain incarcerated to this day, including Al Jazeera English journalists Mohamed Fahmy, Peter Greste and Baher Mohamed, who are currently serving 7 to 10 years prison sentences on terrorism-related charges.  

In Egypt, 581 cases of the violation of press freedoms were documented in 2013, according to a report published by the Support Center for Information Technology. Egypt also ranks globally as the ninth worst states for imprisoning journalists, according to a study released by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in December 2013.