Freedom of press in Egypt and 'the rumors about President Mubarak's health'

Résumé du document

The Freedom of the press faces significant problems in today's world. Journalists are often threatened, imprisoned, kidnapped, and sometimes even assassinated. This kind of situation can appear in different countries: countries at war, authoritarian states, etc. Today Egypt is in an intermediary situation: opposition press exists, as does a kind of pluralism. Some journalists are very incisive, and satirical towards the government and the president. Trials take place, in order to silence those journalists. 2007 was an intensive year at the social level. The HCRInfo (Arabic Network for Human Rights Information) showed in a report about the freedom of the press in Egypt, that last year was the worst since the independence of the country, despite the multiplication of bloggers and independent media. The government frequently institutes lawsuits, for defamation to silence journalists or writers. In 2007, a new constitutional reform has been voted, as desired by the president. The parliament approved the modification of thirty-four articles in the constitution. These strengthen the police power, especially for the arrests. The president and his party (National Democratic Party) want to protect themselves from independent parties, and also from the Muslims Brothers, who are the most important opposition group.

Extraits

[...] The governmental press tried to play down the situation Suzan Mubarak contradicts the rumors on the President's health and asserts: the president is fine Al-Ahram 09/03). Independent and opposition newspapers published rather provocative, attention-grabbing taglines in contrast Why don't the Egyptians rise? El-Fagr, 09/02). El- Dostour published most of these articles and wrote many editorials about this affair, which had a big impact on its editor-in-chief. Eissa is the only journalist being judged. In an authoritarian country, all subjects directly linked to the president person –like his health are very important. [...]

[...] “Fall of the stock market index appears ten times a day, in all over the world. It's not possible that a new like this is responsible for this fall” said one witness. On March 26, he was sentenced to six months in prison. Naturally Eissa appealed the sentence, and the first session took place on May 18. The trial is characterized by strong media coverage, and large supports among journalists, and Human Rights activists who attended the case. There are also a huge number of security forces. [...]

[...] Freedom of press in Egypt and 'the rumors about President Mubarak's health' Freedom of then press in the world faces big problems. Journalists are often threatened, or imprisoned, or kidnapped, and sometimes assassinated. This kind of situation can appear in different countries: countries at war, authoritarian states, etc. Today Egypt is in an intermediary situation: opposition press exists, as does a kind of pluralism takes place. Some journalists are very incisive, satirical toward the government and the president. But then, trials take place, in order to silence those journalists was an intensive year at the social level. [...]

[...] Moreover, this case should be placed in a broader context, with several independent journalists being judged now. These three points show that Eissa was punished to give an example. For his defense, he said didn't broadcast the rumor. We published articles about the rumor, there is a big difference. Everywhere, on Internet, in the street, rumors were spread about health president problems, or about his death. Every journalist connected with the society heard about it. It was therefore natural to analyze it, as a political phenomenon. [...]

[...] Despite of a lot of juridical, administrative, economic pressure, those newspapers kept to impose themselves, and to knock over some taboos. For example, ten years ago, it was quite impossible to approach corruption's question. Today, some newspapers implicate important persons. The links with America are also strongly criticized. Even if those journalists know the cost of this freedom. In 2004, an opening context appears. The United States and the United Nations tried to influence Mubarak, in order to make him leave some pieces of freedom. [...]