Hassan Masri-Cairo
"There are no obstacles or problems comparable to walking with a camera and filming inside a public square or an important area," said Egyptian photographer Ahmed.
Ahmed is an independent photographer and content producer on social media sites. He says that no photographer in Egypt currently dares to raise the camera to shoot in the street.
Ahmed explains to Al Jazeera Net that he was subjected to this situation when the police stopped him while filming public footage on Gameat Al Dowal Al Arabiya Street in Giza Governorate, west of Cairo.He was detained in the police station for a day despite having proof of his employer, he was interrogated, and the video footage was deleted.
"If you carry a camera in Egypt, you are in trouble and you may not easily get out of it. You are a criminal in the police eye until you prove the opposite," he said.
| Shukan spent five years in prison for having a camera (communication sites) |
Despite Ahmed's complaint, he is better off than unseen photographers, such as Mahmoud Abu Zeid Shukan, who was released with precautionary measures after nearly five years in prison in connection with the Rabaa al-Adawiya sit-in in August 2013, where police arrested him while filming events. The Silver.
A few days ago, the court decided to release the famous photographer Mohammed Ibrahim, the owner of the blog "Oxygen" that convey the opinion of the street on the current situation, while the blogger and photographer Shadi Abu Zeid is still inside the prison, known for satirical videos with citizens in the street.
A report by the Foundation for Freedom of Thought and Expression, and Al Jazeera Mubasher's interviews with a number of foreign correspondents, revealed a three-year plan by the Egyptian authorities to crack down on reporters by intimidating, threatening, preventing entry and deportation.
Egyptian and foreign correspondents said that the Egyptian authorities are disturbed by the coverage of foreign newspapers and magazines of human rights violations and the attack on President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and seeks to control what they send to their newspapers, as they do with local media.
Not only do photographers and reporters, where the Egyptian prisons include dozens of journalists, and the number of according to the "Arab Observatory of Media Freedom" about 90 journalists, while the Committee on Liberties Journalists Syndicate that the number of about 25 journalists, but the Egyptian government has always denied the imprisonment of journalists in cases of publication She says they are locked up in criminal cases.
Security clearance
This comes at a time when the Assistant Secretary-General of the Press Syndicate Amr Badr on a new crisis between the union and the Ministry of Interior, because of the requirement of the Interior to obtain a special security clearance for field coverage and photography in the streets, according to his talk to Al Jazeera Net.
A senior security source within the Ministry of Interior, who declined to be named, said that this statement was issued some time ago, but began to emphasize and activate these days, in agreement with the political leadership, to prevent the filming and sending of video material to external channels that highlight the regime's negatives.
The security source for Al Jazeera Net that the Interior will not allow any field investigation shows any negative in the state, even if the investigation follows sites or newspapers and channels calculated on the system, saying that "the political leadership wants to show that everything is OK and no problems at all And therefore will only allow the publication of material. "
For his part, Wael Sayed, a lawyer with cassation and the Supreme Constitutional Court, believes that the widespread security crackdown in Egypt makes the camera a terror machine for the security authorities, for fear of conveying the reality of the situation or preparing any film or program material that would criticize the regime.
He explained that anyone filming in a public square is subject to arrest and confiscation of the camera on charges of filming in a public place without permission, a charge that may become more serious if filmed by sophisticated machines such as drones, where filming without authorization reaches the limit of spying on the state.
He denounced the "camera complex" dominating a tourist country such as Egypt, especially as the photographer does not depict military or security zones, likely that the lack of transparency in society and the lack of democracy and the lack of democracy behind the regime's concerns about the camera, which prompted the legislator to issue a law stipulating the need for permission or Written authorization from the Ministry of Interior prior to any filming in public places, which is contained in the law regulating the press and media.
The camera complex extends to tourist sites and archaeological sites as well, which is confirmed by the Egyptian young Ahmed Abdel Hamid, who denounced the prohibition of filming in places such as Abu Simbel Temple in Aswan only after paying a fee of up to three hundred pounds, while filming inside other places such as the tomb of Tutankham Amon added, "Does the temple have military secrets from the days of the Pharaohs, or is there a security fear of stealing the secret of building the temple?".
He continued in his interview with the island Net "entered many shrines in Europe, and is prevented filming in some areas already, but this is in anticipation of the impact on the effects and damage from the camera flash, and not for no reason as it happens in Egypt."
It is noteworthy that the camera crisis in Egypt is no longer related to the work of journalism, as tourists have not been spared from the difficult conditions of photography in the street, which led to many foreign pages specialized in tourism on social networking sites, warning of photography in the street and public places when visiting Egypt.
The social networking sites reported the story of young Udon Omal, a YouTube content provider of Norwegian origin who was working to produce videos to promote tourism and publicize Egypt, and during his filming of the Nur Mosque in Abbasiya in central Cairo was surprised by his arrest by police officers and mistreated him.
For his part, says former head of the Tourism and Aviation Division Amari Abdel Azim that the discontent of some tourists - as occurred with the young Norwegian - resulting from the absence of a culture of dealing with them and the lack of a clear vision and strategy for the development of tourism.
He called for the need to benefit from the experiences of developed countries such as Spain, although it does not have the antiquities owned by Egypt, but it provides good tourism services and gives great freedoms to tourists.