CAIRO: While newspapers were preoccupied with the judges sit-in and the repercussions of last week s brief sectarian strife in Alexandria, the Sinai bombings exploded onto the scene. This dominaed news coverage and initiated a series of editorial debates reflecting on various local concerns.
Some of the newspapers on Tuesday weren’t able to cover the Dahab bombings in the day s first edition, carrying instead the dominant news at the time, the judges sit-in.
Coverage of the judges’ sit-in was handled differently in independent and opposition newspapers on one side and national papers on the other. The violence that disrupted the sit-in in the early hours of the previous day was described in state-run papers as an activist struggle with government employees who were trying to clear the street (in which the sit-in took place) for traffic.
Al Ahram claimed in its coverage that the protestors (whether activists or judges) were the ones who unjustifiably started the violence. The paper also claimed that the judge Mahmoud Abdel Latif Hamza fell and injured his face while escaping from police forces; the judge had threatened to use his gun against authorities, the paper reported.
Al-Gomhuria also supported the claims saying, Judges attacked the police officers who were present to secure the premises around the Judges Club.
But independent and opposition newspapers had a different story to tell. Al-Wafd headed its front page article with, A heated battle at the gates of the Judges Club . Security attacks activists supporting the judges, drag a judge along the road and beat up his brother.
Al-Masry Al-Youm featured similar coverage, showing a picture of the injured judge. It also quoted Hamza describing how the security officers continued beating him up even after he had identified himself.
The same difference in approach was evident in the editorials. In the state-run Al-Akhbar, the paper s editor Mohamed Barakat denied that there was a dispute between the judges and the state, classifying it as simply a difference in opinion over the articles of the anticipated judiciary independence law.
Barakat called on the judges to keep their conflict out of the streets and media outlets. He said that the judges massacre that was predicted by some journalists would never happen.
The independent weekly Al-Destour took an entirely different approach. The paper s editor Ibrahim Eissa mocked those who called for the president to solve the judges crisis. It s as if the president is not the president of those who are investigating the judges, as if the president is not the president of a state that is taking vengeance on the judges.
The paper also termed the reported arrest of an alleged terrorist organization a hoax. The paper claimed that the alleged terrorists were haphazardly arrested to show that security forces are functioning efficiently. The same article reported that the families of the arrested are protesting the injustice.
In Al-Wafd, Gamal Younes cited the two incidents along with others, including sectarian strife, as proof that the state is preparing for a renewal of the emergency laws.
But the national press was quick to dismiss the claim as naïve, especially after the Dahab bombings. In Al-Akhbar, Abdel Azim Ramadan said that the arrest of the alleged terrorist group should have served as a warning before the Dahab bombings that people should listen to, instead of questioning, the agenda of the security forces.
Ramadan also dismissed theories that Israel could be behind the bombings, calling for mutual cooperation between Egypt and its eastern neighbor.
Al-Gomhuria, however, called for a revision of some of the accords of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty that limits the presence of Egyptian forces in Sinai.
Nonetheless, both incidents (judges and terrorist group) were extensively cited after the Dahab bombings as proof of government inefficiency. Many claimed, whether in articles or on TV stations, that the Ministry of Interior is busy with political security, neglecting its actual job of protecting citizens. Others noted that superficial security measures do nothing but make terrorism a logical option for some citizens.
In Al-Masry Al-Youm, Magdy Mehanna expressed his dismay at Minister of Interior Habib El-Adly s statements and his approach to the frequent attacks on Sinai.
Mehanna quoted El-Adly as saying he would catch the perpetrators just as he had every previous time. This reveals a security malfunction, says Mehanna. It also reveals the continuity of the same failed security policy that resulted in the three Sinai bombings.
He also condemned the wide haphazard arrests of citizens and the maltreatment of Sinai Bedouins, terming it inconsiderate of their traditions and consequently producing hostility to the system.
Mehanna, who called for the removal of El-Adly, noted the contrast in the aggressive treatment of the judges and the mediocre security measures that led to the bombings.
Osama Heikal shared the same opinion in Al-Wafd, saying the Dahab bombings are the third in 18 months featuring the same pattern of execution and the same security malfunction.
Abbas El Tarabeily, in the same opposition newspaper, called for new methods of dealing with the Sinai Bedouins.
Other writers focused on the recent succession of disasters. Listing bird flu, the sunken ferry, mad cow disease, bombings and the judiciary crisis, Ahmed Ragab wrote in Al-Akhbar that it s really change that the government hasn t appointed a Jinx Minister yet.
