{"id":1744,"date":"2023-06-29T15:07:01","date_gmt":"2023-06-29T05:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nepf.weblogs.anu.edu.au\/?p=1744"},"modified":"2025-10-07T20:47:31","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T09:47:31","slug":"egypt-cop-27-projecting-freedom-and-openness-against-a-record-of-repression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nepf.org.au\/index.php\/egypt-cop-27-projecting-freedom-and-openness-against-a-record-of-repression\/","title":{"rendered":"Egypt: Projecting freedom against a record of repression"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In November, Egypt\u2019s Red Sea resort town of Sharm el Sheikh hosted the 27th annual Climate Change Conference of the Parties. When it does, if the<\/span> glossy promotional material<\/span><\/a> is any indication, it will do its best to appear open, free and progressive.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But with an estimated 60-thousand<\/span> political prisoners<\/span><\/a> still behind bars, including activists, political opponents and journalists, it also seems unlikely the government will tolerate any serious dissent, or internal debate about its record on human rights, freedom of speech or freedom of the press.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a brief period \u2013 in 2013 \u2013 when it looked as though Egypt might have taken a different direction. At the time there was deep disquiet \u2013 and widespread protests \u2013 about the way the military had<\/span> mounted a coup<\/span><\/a> in the middle of that year to oust the Muslim Brotherhood barely 12 months after it formed the country\u2019s first democratically elected government.  But there was also residual hope that the momentum gained during the spectacular Arab Spring protests of 2011 would carry the country through to a more tolerant, liberal and open society; that the coup was a kind of collective retch on the path to a working democracy.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the country still wracked by political unrest, an interim administration appointed a<\/span> committee of 50<\/span><\/a> eminent Egyptians to draft a new constitution ahead of fresh elections. It was an elegant document that included high-minded protections for human rights, the right to protest, and for political dissent. And then there were<\/span> article\u2019s 70, 71 and 72<\/span><\/a>, which guaranteed freedom of the press, freedom of publication, and the independence of press institutions. Among the lofty prose was this line: \u201cNo custodial sanction shall be imposed for crimes committed by way of publication or the public nature thereof.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, and without any sense of irony, the Interior Ministry began locking up political opponents, journalists, and protesters. It included leaders of the 2011 revolution, supporters of the ousted Muslim Brotherhood, and many others who had the bad luck to be wearing a beard in a pro-Brotherhood district at the time the police swept through.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Egyptian government has always denied it violates constitutional guarantees for human rights or media freedom. It has been dealing with criminals it argued, not politics. In a 2015 news conference alongside the then US Secretary of State John Kerry, the<\/span> Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry<\/span><\/a> said, \u2018None of the journalists \u2026 are in prison or facing a judicial process related to their professional journalism, but are accused of implication with terrorist activity.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, Egypt has consistently been named as one of the world\u2019s worst for media freedom. Reporters without Borders\u2019 World Press Freedom Index<\/span> ranked<\/span><\/a> Egypt 168<\/span>th<\/span> out of 180 countries, and declared it, \u201cone of the world\u2019s biggest prisons for journalists\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVirtually all media are under direct control of the state, of the secret services or of a handful of millionaire businessmen with influence in ruling circles. By contrast, outlets who refuse to submit to censorship are blocked, as in the case of independent news site Mada Masr, inaccessible in Egypt since 2017,\u201d RSF said.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its annual tally of imprisoned reporters, the New York-based<\/span> Committee to Protect Journalists<\/span><\/a> calculated that at the end of 2021 the country had 25 behind bars, third in the world after China (50) and Myanmar (26). In an interview, the CPJ\u2019s Middle East Director Sharif Mansour said on paper, the situation had improved since the beginning of the year, with a number of journalists being released since then. But he also warned it doesn\u2019t mean things are getting better for media freedom.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt really means that the other forms of control are working, and that they no longer need to keep so many locked up to manage the messages. It will look better for CoP 27, but without structural and legislative reform, we can\u2019t say things are better.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CPJ is calling for the repeal of a<\/span> \u201cFake News\u201d<\/span><\/a> law (passed in 2018) which has been used to lock up many journalists and social media critics, as well as an end to censorship, and to state control of local media.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the most prominent figure still behind bars is Alaa Abd el-Fattah \u2013 a software engineer, blogger, journalist and intellectual, sometimes described as an<\/span> \u2018icon of the revolution\u2019<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Full disclosure: I was another of those imprisoned. My two Al Jazeera colleagues and I were arrested in December 2013 and also charged with terrorism offences. While my colleagues were sent to a separate prison, for more than a month I was placed in a cell next to Alaa.)<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As one of Egypt\u2019s most prominent political writers, Abd el-Fattah was at the forefront of the 2011 revolution, and his Che Guevera-like image can still be found defiantly spraypainted around Cairo\u2019s streets. Although the charges<\/span> almost always related<\/span><\/a> to alleged acts of violence, supporting a banned group, or publishing fake news, campaigners both inside and outside Egypt believe it is because he is an influential critic who still has the respect and power to inspire widespread dissent. He is now more than 200 days into a hunger strike, in a high-stakes game of brinkmanship ahead of CoP-27 when campaigners hope the issue of media freedom will be a significant part of the debate.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflecting on the crackdown in 2014,<\/span> one journalist wrote,<\/span><\/a>  \u201cAn old Nasserite slogan has resurfaced, the \u2018Dignity of the State.\u2019 In that context, the new leadership in Cairo views journalists, media, human rights advocates, and even revolutionaries with suspicion. They are all a threat to its authority and therefore there is no room for dissent.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alaa\u2019s sister Mona Seif has been one of his most vocal advocates. On<\/span> Twitter<\/span><\/a>, she quoted her brother who said in a recent visit, \u201cYou need to get over that notion that you will rescue me, I am going to die here, focus on how to make sure my death comes with the highest political price”.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cairo will be hoping that doesn\u2019t happen before delegates start arriving in Sharm el-Sheikh.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The views expressed in the Near East Policy Forum are those of the authors and do not represent the views of the Near East Policy Forum or any of its partner organisations.<\/strong><\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In November, Egypt\u2019s Red Sea resort town of Sharm el Sheikh hosted the 27th annual Climate Change Conference of the Parties. When it does, if the glossy promotional material is any indication, it will do its best to appear open, free and progressive. But with an estimated 60-thousand political prisoners still behind bars, including activists, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":1748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[86751,265963,238,28791,265938],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-egypt","category-civil-society","category-energy","category-international-relations","category-north-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepf.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepf.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepf.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepf.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepf.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nepf.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepf.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepf.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepf.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepf.org.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}