Editorials point to recent incidents as threats to freedom of expression
CAIRO: The new publishing law, under discussion in parliament, has dominated editorials throughout the week. The topic also brought into the spotlight other stories related to freedom of expression, including last week’s story of the student who was reprimanded for criticizing American policies in an essay.
“Down with journalism and long live corruption, wrote Ahmed Ragab in the state-owned Al-Akhbar. All writers, regardless of affiliation, said the new law would only allow corruption to grow, since journalists would be subject to prison if they threw doubt on any institution or official.
“The way in which new punishments have been sought makes journalists doubt the government’s intentions, wrote Mohamed Ali Ibrahim in Al-Gomhouria.
“Just kill us all, was the title of Mostafa Shardy’s article in Al-Wafd. He pondered why there had been a fuss over the new law if the government was adamant to pass it in this form. “Let the system issue one law to execute every criminal who dares to express his opinion or oppose the system or its friends, he wrote.
The new law is an attempt to silence every voice, Shardy explained, in a country that needs every opinion and voice. He said journalists now have two options: to fulfill their mission and end up in jail with criminals or to abide by government rules and write about trivialities to avoid prison.
In Al-Akhbar, Mohamed Barakat, the paper’s editor, said journalists are counting on the president to fulfill his promise of a new publishing law. Without noting the journalist syndicate’s objections to the new law, Barakat said “all journalists trust the president and his support for their demands.
“What Shura Council President Safwat El Sherif, Minister of State for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Mufid Shehab and Minister of Justice Mahmoud Abu Leil said about the new law fulfilling the promises President Hosni Mubarak made in his electoral campaign is untrue, wrote Magdy Mehanna in Al-Masry Al-Youm.
“No journalism. No writing. This is the new thing the government brought forth. This is its stupid understanding of going through with the president’s promise, added Mehanna, who was also critical of the lack of unity between journalists in their stance against the new law compared to that in previous similar legislative battles.
“I don’t know why the government tries to go around a clear promise made by the president, wrote Makram Mohamed Ahmed in Al Ahram. Ahmed also noted that the new additions to the publishing law prevent journalists from tracking down corruption cases.
“Fighting corruption has become the priority of a free economy, Ahmed added, “and the government should encourage it, not suffocate it.
Many writers called for the president to fulfill his promise of eliminating jail sentences in publishing crimes, since the new law doesn’t deliver in this regard. In Al-Wafd, Hazem Hashem called for presidential intervention similar to what happened in the case of student Alaa Megahed, who was reprimanded for criticizing American policies and local corruption. The president stepped in last week to restore the student’s grades and reverse the decision to fail her.
But others ridiculed the general request. In Al-Destour, Ibrahim Eissa said he doesn’t understand those who call for the president’s intervention. It’s as if “they haven’t read his clear signature on the law draft presented to the parliament. The law that makes the profession of journalism limited to hypocrites, Eissa explained.
But Hashem wasn’t the only writer who pointed to the link between the limitations the new draft law puts on freedom of expression and the problems Megahed had to go through for expressing her views.
“We should stop at Alaa’s crisis because it reflects on education and on freedom, wrote Amr Khafagy in Al-Masry Al-Youm. “It reflects on building a new generation that we hope won’t be like us: born and raised in an atmosphere of fear, its utmost virtue silence.
This was also tied to university graduate Abdullah Zanoun, who was denied a job as lecturer at his university because of his participation in a demonstration and his father’s affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood. In Al-Masry Al-Youm, Mohamed Salah criticized how reports prepared by security forces could affect hiring decisions at a university.
In Al-Wafd, Emad El Ghazaly said that by way of Megahed’s and Zanoun’s cases, as well as the recent jail sentence Eissa received for “insulting the president, the government wants to send a message: “Stay by the wall. The Arabic phrase is often used to indicate staying out of trouble by not interfering in anything at all.
Meanwhile, the escalation of violence in Gaza was topic for several editorials this week. Mohamed Abdel Moniem wrote in Al-Akhbar that Israel could have opted for diplomatic negotiations to release the kidnapped soldier, but “this wasn’t Israel’s goal. Israel wants to destroy the infrastructure of the Palestinian existence and to put obstacles in the way of establishing the Palestinian state.
In Al-Wafd, Essam Kamel was concerned by the relative apathy expressed toward the Palestinian crisis in comparison with the zestful interest exhibited in the World Cup.
