CAIRO: A recent study explored freedom of the press in Egypt, along with 22 other countries, as the world celebrated International Press Freedom Day on May 3 – an occasion most journalists in Egypt remain oblivious to.
“While the whole world is celebrating International Press Freedom Day we are one of the worst 10 countries to be an online journalist in, said human rights activist Mina Zikry.
“Journalists, bloggers and activists in general face severe harassment as they are constantly faced with legal charges or their security is threatened, he added.
The World Public Opinion Organization, a collaborative research project involving research centers from around the world and managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland released a poll on freedom of the press on April 30.
The polling was conducted between Jan. 10 and Oct. 24, 2008 and surveyed countries such as Jordan, Palestine, Turkey and Iran.
The majority of Egyptians surveyed – 97 percent – agreed that it is “very important for the media to be free to publish news and ideas without government control.
However, only 65 percent agreed that people should have the right to access information on the internet freely, without any government control.
Respondents were divided over government control over content that poses a threat to political stability. While 49 percent maintain that the media content should be free of government intervention, 51 percent say the government has the right to censor content that can cause political instability.
Sixty-four percent of those surveyed also expressed desire more press freedom in Egypt, and 32 percent said they are happy with the amount of freedom Egypt is currently enjoying.
Only 31 percent said Egypt is enjoying “a lot of freedom, 63 percent said it enjoys “some freedom, leaving only 6 percent saying Egypt does not enjoy any press freedom.
However, the statistics revealed by the study is a far cry from the opinions of bloggers, activists and journalists.
When asked by Daily News Egypt about his opinion about press freedom in Egypt, Adel Hammouda, editor-in-chief of Al-Fajr newspaper, said, “No comment; what can I say?
Hammouda is notorious for his conflicts with the government; he was recently handed down a one-year prison sentence, along with three other newspaper editors, for insulting President Mubarak and NDP figures. However it was overturned and he was fined a LE 20,000.
“I can’t say there is freedom of expression in Egypt, Kareem Amer has been in prison for two years now because of something he wrote on his blog, activist Philip Rizk was recently arrested [and released], said Mustafa Hussein, author of the Muftasa.net blog.
“Bloggers are constantly harassed and arrested . they don’t have any security, he said.
Worldwide people heavily criticized Egypt for the case of blogger Kareem Amer, who was arrested on Nov. 6, 2006 in his hometown, Alexandria. He was sentenced to three years in prison on Feb. 22, 2007, for his blog entries which are considered to be insulting to Islam and defaming President Hosni Mubarak. At the time, Amnesty International described his arrest as “a slap in the face of freedom of expression in Egypt.
With 2008 named by activists in Egypt as the worst year for freedom on expression in Egypt, Zikry is not optimistic about any change soon. “We hope that the government would abide by all the international protocols and agreements regarding human rights, however I can see no improvement happening in the near future, he said.
