CAIRO: The decision by over 20 of Egypt’s independent and opposition newspapers to suspend publication Monday has made headline news worldwide.
Monday’s protest against the government’s recent clampdown on the Egyptian press has attracted media attention from the US to Europe and from the Gulf to Australasia.
In a New York Times opinion piece on democracy, Harvard law Professor Noah Feldman makes mention of the Egyptian government’s press crackdown, and relates it to the issue of succession.
“Egypt has been cracking down on the press as it prepares to transfer the presidency from Hosni Mubarak to the presumptive heir, his son Gamal, Feldman wrote.
Closer to home, Reuters obtained comments from a number of media analysts, including direct demands from Ahmed Enany, a board member of the Egyptian Press Syndicate.
We are calling on the government to implement the promise of President Mubarak to end the imprisonment of journalists, Enany said.
The government should not scare journalists and should let them work in a free environment.
A CNN news feature included interviews with Al-Destour editor Ibrahim Eissa, one of the main characters in the ongoing Egyptian press freedom drama, and an animated Hisham Kassem, former CEO of Al-Masry Al-Youm.
“There are people who are committed and will defend (the press) at any cost, Kassem said.
“They will go to jail or take whatever the Mubarak regime brings upon them; they are willing to take it
The BBC in Britain said that Eissa’s trial had been strongly criticized by US and international human rights groups.
It pointed out that Al-Masry Al-Youm’s refusal to publish was also directed against the Press Syndicate, which it accused of failing to deal properly with the current crisis.
The BBC also reported the criticisms of the pro-government papers who did publish citing one that said the protest was the result of pressures from an unknown power and another that claimed it was driven by personal issues.
The popular English-speaking Gulf News gauged a number of opinions including one from Gamal Fahmi, head of the Freedom Committee at the Egyptian Press Syndicate.
Opting not to go to print is a civilized, democratic protest against this glaring aggression on the freedom of the press, Fahmi said.
The Australian newspaper also ran a story about the protests, making reference to the recent criticism of Egypt’s flagging democratic reforms made by the US government
“The clampdown led the US – which provides Egypt with $2.2 billion in aid each year – to voice “deep concern over the sentences, a criticism rejected by Cairo as “unacceptable interference , the paper reported.
Reuters, AP and AFP wire stories detailing the protest were carried in broadsheets and on websites worldwide, from India to Lebanon to Canada.
