Press on the day of its freedom .. Egypt is a dangerous region even for pro journalists

Control of information, false accusations of violating unfair laws, physical and moral violence, repression even of supporters, and the risks of a stalking virus ... These are some of the free word taxes paid by Egyptian journalists, according to an Amnesty International report on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day which falls on May 3 / May every year.

The report called on the Egyptian authorities to stop their repression and interference in the work of the media, to release all detained journalists, and to stop all forms of intimidation and repression against them.

She said that with the continuation of the high rates of infection with "Covid 19" in Egypt, the government would strengthen its control of information, instead of supporting transparency during the public health crisis, noting that anyone who challenges the official version "will be severely punished."

In its report, the organization documented 37 cases of detention of journalists as part of an "escalating crackdown by the Egyptian government on press freedoms."

The report pointed out that "even the voices in support of the Egyptian government were not recognized as well," as 12 journalists working for state-owned media were arrested for expressing different private views on social media. Many of them were charged with "spreading false news" or "misusing social media" under the 2015 loose anti-terrorism law, which expanded the definition of terrorism to include all kinds of dissent, according to the report.

On this occasion, the International Press Institute again called on the Egyptian government to release detained journalists, fearing the spread of the Corona virus in prisons.

This came in a tweet on Twitter, in which the institute attached a statement issued a month ago, urging Cairo to release the detained journalists, especially Al-Jazeera journalist Mahmoud Hussein.

UNESCO has chosen the phrase "journalism without fear or favoritism" as the slogan for this year in honor of defenders of freedom of the media and independence of the press.

In 1993, the United Nations General Assembly adopted May 3 of each year as World Press Freedom Day, to serve as a conscience reminding governments of their pledges to press freedom.

According to the reports of the Committee to Protect Journalists, during the past 20 years, 1381 journalists have been killed around the world, including 6 this year, and 64 journalists remain forcibly disappeared.

Among the ten most repressive press freedom nations, we find Eritrea in the lead, followed by North Korea, Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia, China, Vietnam and Iran, according to the commission's arrangement.

In turn, Reporters Without Borders has spoken of the presence of 231 journalists behind bars around the world, including colleague Mahmoud Hussein, who has been detained in Egypt for more than three years.

In its annual classification of press freedom worldwide, the organization kept countries such as Norway, Finland, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands at the top of the ranking of 180 countries in terms of press freedom in them.

With regard to the Arab countries, Tunisia ranked the 72nd, while the rankings of Djibouti and Saudi Arabia ranked 170th, and Egypt ranked 166th after Somalia and Iraq.

The Israeli occupation continues to arrest 12 journalists in its prisons, the oldest of whom is the prisoner Mahmoud Issa from Jerusalem, who is sentenced to three life terms and 46 years.

On this occasion, the Syrian Network for Human Rights talked about the presence of 422 journalist citizens behind bars in Syria, most of whom are in the regime, and are threatened by the Corona epidemic, noting that 707 journalist citizens have been killed since March 2011 until today, 78% of them are at the hands of the Syrian regime forces .