Journalism in Egypt has effectively become a crime over the past four years as authorities clamp down on media outlets and muzzle dissent, Amnesty International says in a new report.
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And as the number of coronavirus infections in Egypt continues to rise, the government is strengthening its control over information, according to the rights group, marking World Press Freedom day.
"The Egyptian authorities have made it very clear that anyone who challenges the official narrative will be severely punished," said Philip Luther, Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa director.
Amnesty documented 37 cases of journalists detained in the government's escalating crackdown on press freedoms, many charged with "spreading false news" or "misusing social media" under a broad counterterrorism law.
Egyptian authorities have previously denied rights violations and justified arrests on national security grounds.
Following general-turned-president Abdel Fattah el-Sissi's rise to power in 2013, most of Egypt's television programs and newspapers have taken the government position and steered clear of criticism, or else disappeared.
12 journalists working for state-owned media outlets, have landed in jail for expressing various private views on social media, the report said.
One of them is Atef Hasballah, editor-in-chief of the AlkararPress website. When he challenged the Health Ministry's coronavirus case count on his Facebook page last month, he was promptly bundled into a police van and detained on suspicion of "joining a terrorist organisation."
Egypt's public prosecutor warned in a recent statement that those who spread "false news" about the coronavirus may face up to five years imprisonment and steep fines.
The journalists interviewed by Amnesty reported increasingly direct state intervention in their coverage. For instance, a directive on how to handle President Trump's proposal to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict this year asked reporters not to mention the plan's violations of long-standing Arab policies, as Trump and el-Sissi have cultivated close ties.
Those who do not hew the official line "lost their jobs, were interrogated or imprisoned," one journalist was quoted as saying. "I cannot even imagine that someone could refuse to comply."
Australian Associated Press
