The 2017 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) shows an increase in the number of countries where the media freedom situation is very grave and highlights the scale and variety of the obstacles to media freedom throughout the world, RSF said.
RSF stated that the World Press Freedom map is getting darker. The global indicator calculated by RSF has never been so high, which means that media freedom is under threat now more than ever.
Three more countries sank into the darkest depths of the Index in 2017 among them are Egypt (down 2 at 161st) and Bahrain (down 2 at 164th) of the 180 countries in the Index.
RSF said that Egypt was among the countries that have entered the Index’s black zone (very bad). 24 journalists have been imprisoned in Egypt. It detain its journalists for very long periods of time.
In Egypt (down 2 at 161st), Mahmoud Abou Zeid, a photojournalist also known as Shawkan, has been held arbitrarily for more than three years without being tried. His crime was to have covered the violent dispersal of a demonstration organized by the Muslim Brotherhood, which is now branded as a terrorist organization. Freelancer Ismail Alexandrani has been in pre-trial detention since November 2015 although a judge ordered his release in November 2016. Regardless of the law, the regime led with an iron fist by Gen. Al-Sisi tolerates no criticism, suppresses protests, shamelessly erodes media pluralism, attacks the journalists’ union, and encourages self-censorship amongst reporters on a daily basis.
Source: https://rsf.org/en/2017-press-freedom-index-ever-darker-world-map
