February 28, 2018
In a dangerous development doubling restrictions on the Egyptian media, the Egyptian Attorney General Nabil Sadeq issued a decree today instructing public prosecutors and heads of public prosecution, in their respective departments, to keep an eye on what is published in the media and social networking sites, which he described as “lies and false news” that target security and safety of the homeland.
The Attorney General began his statement with what he described as “the forces of evil” and their attempts to spread false news through the media and social networking sites. It is dangerous that the description of the forces of evil has become attached to many of the media outlets themselves, or at least as tools of these forces. It is a strange description which the head of the Egyptian regime, Marshal Abdul-Fattah Al-Sisi, usually uses to describe his opponents and political ones. By adopting this description in an official statement for the first time, the public prosecutor considered media a political player and media work a punishable crime.
Arab Media Freedom Monitor “Ikshef” asserts that the Attorney General’s call to those responsible for the media and social media to inform the public prosecution of what he described as violation of the media and publishing conventions means that these outlets will turn into ‘informants’ or entities pursuing media professionals instead of performing their original role of protecting them and protecting freedom of the career, according to article 211 of the Constitution, as well as the legal texts established for those bodies. Also, the statement of the Attorney General wrongly included a legal mistake in his call on these bodies to notify the prosecution of what is considered a violation of the media codes of honor, as the application of the charters of honor is the exclusive responsibility of the syndicates of journalists and media professionals by law, while the prosecution has the authority to investigate what constitutes a violation of the laws only.
In this way, the Attorney General has turned the Public Prosecution into a direct party in the political dispute, biased to the authority on the expense of the society it represents in all its classes. It also turned the public prosecution offices into departments for criminal and political investigation, chasing and prosecuting journalists, media professionals and media outlets because of what they write or broadcast of material criticizing the ruling regime, which is a move contrary to the basic domestic and international constitutional and legal rules, and contributes to the perpetuation of the very dark image on Egypt in the area of freedom of information.
It is worth mentioning that article 70 of the Egyptian Constitution states that: “Freedom of the press, printing and paper, visual, audio and electronic publication is guaranteed.” Article 71 states: “It is prohibited to censor, confiscate, suspend or shut down Egyptian newspapers and media outlets in any way.” Article 72 states: “The State shall ensure the independence of all State-owned press institutions and media outlets, in a manner ensuring their neutrality and presentation of all political and intellectual opinions and trends as well as social interests and also guaranteeing equality and equal opportunities in addressing public opinion.” And article 77 states that: “The Law shall regulate the establishment of professional syndicates and the administration thereof on a democratic basis, shall guarantee their independence and shall specify their resources and the manner of recording their members, and holding them accountable for their conduct in practicing their professional activities according to the codes of ethics and professional conduct.”
In the first application of the public prosecutor’s statement, the State Security Prosecution decided on Wednesday to arrest and hold Salma Aladdin, activist of the April 6 Movement, and film editor Tareq Ziadah for 15 days in custody for producing a documentary film entitled “Negative 1095 Days” involving interviews with a number of political figures on the pretext of spreading lies against the state .
Ikshef demands that the Attorney General review this statement and withdraw it in order to preserve the neutrality of the Public Prosecution as a representative of the community and not of the authority, and to respect the constitutional texts guaranteeing the freedom and independence of the press.
