Abdullah Hamed - Cairo

The Reporters Without Borders report - on the conditions of the press in Egypt - reiterated the freedom of the media and the reasons for the retreat of the Egyptian press after it was a pioneer in the Arab region.

According to the organization's description, Egypt is one of the largest prisons for journalists in the region, and the report ranked this country ranked 166 in the world in the freedom of the press.

The report issued recently said that the Egyptian authorities use the principle of fighting "fake news" as an excuse to justify blocking pages and websites on the one hand, and withdrawing the credentials of journalists on the other hand.

Egypt is only ahead of this index on five Arab countries, namely Yemen, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Djibouti, out of a total of 22 countries.

Most of Africa is "54 countries", ahead of Egypt, the most ancient in the history of the press, with the exception of only two countries, Eritrea and Djibouti.


Worthy site

The former Secretary-General of the Supreme Press Council, Qutb Al-Arabi, believes that the report wronged the press in Egypt by placing it at this level, as it is "undoubtedly a more late rank" on the Freedom of the Press index, which faces "violations without borders".

Al-Arabi told Al-Jazeera Net that a more accurate monitoring of the reality of the press in Egypt, and a broader description of the journalist's status, would put the facts in their place, where the rate of violations is greater than what was stated in the report, and the number of imprisoned journalists is more.

The report placed Egypt at a rank three degrees later than last year’s report, and Al-Arabi considered this an indication of the escalation of the crackdown on the press year after year, confirming that the authorities put more restrictions in place, making it in a position worthy of the black area of ​​press freedom.

The report describes the state of the press in 180 countries, based on a methodology that assesses the pluralism and independence of the media, journalists ’work environment and levels of self-censorship, as well as the supportive mechanisms surrounding news production such as the legal framework, level of transparency, and infrastructure quality.


Several facts

Egypt recently witnessed several facts that included punishing journalists and media outlets, and the laws stress that no news about official data has not been published, and journalists say it is never easy to obtain official data from the authorities, and journalists often refrain from publishing information for fear of security prosecution or Legal.

A few days ago, the Higher Media Council issued severe penalties for the newspaper, "Al-Masry Al-Youm", due to a series of articles calling for making Sinai an independent economic region. Note that opposition voices believe that the authority itself is behind the idea as a kind of test balloon.

With the beginning of the spread of Corona virus in Egypt, the authorities withdrew the license of the British Guardian newspaper correspondent, after publishing a scientific study on the expected numbers of infected people, and the New York Times reporter received a rebuke from the Egyptian official authorities in this regard, because he published the same study on Twitter.

A news editor of Al-Hayat channel, owned by the security services, published a uniquely two months ago about postponing the study due to the Corona virus.

National press institutions are also full of facts referring journalists to investigate on the basis of expressing their opinions or posting news on social media.

This trend explains one of the journalists referred to the investigation (whose name has been refused) that the security services have assigned the institutions leaders the task of punishing the journalists for publishing what should not be published, in order to avoid embarrassing the members of the Journalists Syndicate Council who are close to the security services, and that these members do not have to interfere to release them if they are arrested, according to Talking to Al Jazeera Net.


Journalists arrested

According to unofficial estimates, more than eighty journalists remain in prison, the last of whom is the editor of the Al Borsa newspaper because of a common charge of belonging to a banned group or helping it achieve its goals and spreading false news.

Journalists previously arrested on the same charges were also re-arrested, including journalist Ahmed Sabaie, who was detained at the funeral of the late thinker Mohamed Amara, and journalist Hassan al-Qabbani, who was arrested for writing on his Facebook page about his wife, Aya Alaa, who was arrested while performing condolences to the family of the late President Mohamed Morsi.

The most famous incident that sparked a local and global uproar was the arrest of three editors at Mada Masr, who revealed that Mahmoud, the president's son, had been excluded from his position as an agent of the General Intelligence Agency and appointed as a military attaché to the embassy in Russia, and later released.

During last September's protests, the largest since Sisi took office, some 31 journalists were arrested while covering the protests or passing near the protest areas, including Sulafa Majdi, Husam al-Sayyad, Muhammad Salah and Ahmed Shaker.

The authorities also continue to arrest Al-Jazeera journalist colleague Mahmoud Hussein three years ago without bringing him to any trial.

The matter amounts to the absence of an explanation or justification for the deterioration of press freedoms conditions among media officials in Egypt, to the point that the head of the Supreme Council for Information, Makram Mohamed Ahmed, is obliged to express his dissatisfaction with the state of press and media freedoms in the country.

Makram launched a sharp attack on the state’s policy towards the media, accusing the regime of muffling mouths and stifling freedoms, pointing out that newspapers were issued in Egypt to one reader, Sisi.

In his televised dialogue with the media close to the regime, Ahmed Moussa denied Makram's responsibility for the media, saying: I cannot say who is responsible because the newly appointed Minister of Information will be angry.

The authorities block dozens of news sites, the latest of which is the "Darb" website issued by the Socialist Alliance Party, noting that the "Reporters Without Borders" website itself is also blocked in Egypt.