Report reveals continuing violations of Egyptian press freedoms

The Journalists Against Torture Observatory (JATO) recorded a total of 106 violations of press freedoms in the third quarter of 2016. The Ministry of Interior is named as the most frequent offender, and was directly responsible for 36 of the incidents.

According to their third quarterly report, published on Monday, many violations occur on a daily basis preventing journalists and other media workers from providing coverage of certain events, particularly court cases.

The JATO report records different types of violations. The most prevalent of these included 36 incidents in which journalists were banned from covering an event, 16 cases of physical assault, 10 incidents where journalists were stopped and searched and seven cases that involved threats and insults.

Private Egyptian newspapers were involved in 41 of the recorded cases, the largest group to be targeted. 78 of the incidents took place in Cairo with 59 occurring in July alone.

The report said the number of violations in the third quarter of 2016 demonstrates that the state continues to stifle the public domain and press freedoms. It adds that this year has seen an overall decrease compared to the 168 incidents recorded in 2015. This is primarily due to the drop in denial of media coverage from 70 recorded cases to 36, as well as a decrease in the number of beatings and injuries.

The report warned however that 2016 has seen a rise in certain types of abuses that were not prevalent in the previous year, namely the number of arbitrary detention procedures, gag orders, the prevention of entry into the Journalists Syndicate and the prevention of publication or broadcast.

JATO called on the state to issue a “blanket amnesty” for all detained journalists, and asked the Journalists Syndicate to play a more active role in protecting the rights of reporters. The observatory also called on civil society organizations to come together to draft legislation that is not negotiated behind closed doors and approved without community consensus.

Egypt has been criticized for stifling press freedoms since 2002 when it ranked 101 out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) Press Freedom Index. Since then its rank has continued to drop, reaching 158th place by 2015 and dropping one place further in 2016.

At the start of May the Journalists Syndicate was raided by security forces and two journalists, Amr Badr and Mahmoud al-Sakka, were arrested on charges of instigating illegal protests, disseminating false information and attempting to overthrow the regime. According to RSF, authorities are currently orchestrating a “Sisification” of the media and journalists are obliged to report only official versions of terrorist attacks under the guise of national security.

A new cybercrime law awaiting approval by the Cabinet aimed at combating cybercrimes makes it illegal to publish “illegitimate ideas” on the internet or to produce, prepare, adapt, send or store material that offends public morality.

The Journalists Syndicate’s Liberties Committee reported in February that 782 violations were perpetrated against journalists in Egypt in 2015. Many journalists have also been jailed since the 2011 Revolution, and particularly since the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi in 2013. In 2014 the Support Center for Information Technology reported 581 cases of violations in 2013, compared to 185 in 2012 and 280 in 2011.