Egyptian authorities target journalists amid protests
As thousands of Egyptian protesters marched calling for the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, local authorities have targeted journalists and closed down Internet access in the country to limit coverage.
International press freedom advocate group Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF, Reporters Without Borders) reported that journalists, including foreign correspondents, were arrested and attacked while covering the protests that started last Jan. 25.
Arrested were Daily News Egypt reporter Mohammed Effat, wire agency Associated Press Television News cameramen Haridi Hussein and Haitham Badry, London-based newspaper The Guardian reporter Jack Shenker, opposition paper Al-Wafd photographer Amru Salaheddin, online Arabian network Radio Horytna reporter Ibrahim Mamdouh Siam, wire agency Reuters reporter Samuel Al-Ashy, Egyptian opposition paper Al-Doustour reporter Abdel Rahman Izz ad-Din Imam, Egyptian magazine Al-Idhaa wa Al-Tilfaza editor Sami Al-Belchy, and members of Egyptian Journalists Syndicate Mohamed Abdul Quddus and Karim Mahmoud.
Correspondents Karen Lagon of the French weekly newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche, Adrien Jaulmes of the French daily newspaper Le Figaro, and French agency Sipa photographer Albert Facelly were also arrested on Jan. 28 but were released an hour after being detained.
Since Jan. 26, the online news sites Al-Dustour and El-Badil have been shut down while access to social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook have also been blocked since Jan. 28.
Authorities on Jan. 30 shut down the international news network Al Jazeera office in Cairo. The government also revoked the press credentials of the network’s reporters, reported the American news site The Huffington Post.
While Internet access in the country became available again on Feb. 2, attacks against journalists and media workers have escalated. Also taken into police custody among others were the US-based newspaper The Washington Post’s Cairo Bureau chief Leila Fadel and photographer Linda Davidson, and Canadian Globe and Mail reporter Sonia Verma. Separate attacks against ABC News international correspondent Christiane Amanpour, BBC correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, CBS reporter Mark Strassman and CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper were also reported.
The first recorded media casualty during the protest was Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram reporter Ahmad Mohamed Mahmoud who on Jan. 28 was shot while filming confrontations between the protesters and security forces. He died on Feb. 4.
Human rights groups and some governments called on the Egyptian government and protesters to spare the media from violence.
On Jan. 25, Egyptian opposition leaders launched their online “Day of Rage” protest in light of the “Jasmine Revolution” that ended the 23-year reign of Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Demonstrators marched in the streets of Cairo and Alexandria to protest poverty, unemployment, corruption and to demand an end to the 30-year Mubarak autocracy.
RSF noted Egyptian’s use of the Internet as an effective protest tool with numerous demonstrations being instigated online. The Paris-based watchdog considers Egypt as an Internet enemy for the authorities’ continuous surveillance on web content as well as harassment on bloggers and journalists. The country is at 127th place in RSF’s 2010 Press Freedom Index.
Meanwhile, members of the International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX) and other civil society organizations called on the Egyptian government to uphold the freedom of the expression. In a Feb. 3 petition, 58 IFEX members and six CSO condemned the relentless attacks on journalists and media practitioners in Egypt. The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility was one of the signatories. (Read the petition here.)
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