Saturday, February 07, 2015 1:10:31 AM
Peter Greste is free but Egypt’s journalists remain muzzled
Wadah Khanfar
This is just the start. Those who care about freedom of speech must fight to lift this climate of repression
Peter Greste, right, has now been released, but Mohamed Fahmy, centre, and Baher
Mohamed both remain in jail. Photograph: Khaled Elfiqi/EPA
Monday 2 February 2015 14.44 EST Comments 40
Peter Greste, of the al-Jazeera English television network, has been released after 400 days of detention .. http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/feb/01/peter-greste-al-jazeera-released-egypt .. in Egyptian prisons. I am delighted. The detention of the three al-Jazeera journalists is a blatant example of the deterioration of press freedom in the country.
They were arrested while conducting their professional duties, but the court imprisoned them for allegedly spreading lies and distorted the image of Egypt .. http://www.theguardian.com/world/egypt .
Our happiness following the news of Greste’s release, however, remains incomplete. The other two journalists are still in detention. It has been reported that Mohamed Fahmy, who has dual nationality, has been asked to denounce his Egyptian citizenship so he may be deported to Canada; the third journalist, Baher Mohamed, has no foreign nationality and has still been given no prospect of release.
The court’s discrimination in dealing with him was evident from the very beginning. While his two colleagues were sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment each, the court singled Mohamed out for 10 years. In fact, the detention of Egyptian journalists has now become customary – in a climate of repression and restrictions that did not exist even during the era of the former dictator Hosni Mubarak.
Since the coup which overthrew President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, and the rise to power of former armed forces chief Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, scores of journalists have been detained; six were killed in the past year. The Committee to Protect Journalists .. https://www.cpj.org/ .. has consequently classified Egypt as the third most dangerous country in the world.
The plight of the al-Jazeera journalists gained extensive international coverage. Many powerful voices were raised demanding their release; at the top of that list was the US president, Barack Obama. At the same time, hundreds of journalists and human rights organisations launched a huge international campaign of solidarity with the detainees.
It is vital that this campaign does not stop with the release of the first one or two al-Jazeera journalists. Instead, it must continue until the last Egyptian journalist is freed from the regime’s jails.
The moral stand that the world adopted toward the al-Jazeera journalists must hold for all journalists, especially those in Egypt. They do not have foreign embassies to demand their release, or governments to raise their voices in their defence. There is, sadly, no equivalent uproar concerning their detention.
We must not distinguish between a western journalist and an Egyptian journalist. All were detained because of free speech and deserve our support and solidarity.
There is also the question of the Egyptian media. By declaring that it is in an open-ended war against what it calls terrorism, the regime hoped it would appeal to western governments. It felt it could justify sacrificing rights and freedoms because the war on terror requires an end to criticism of the regime. This charade, which has been repeated by several Arab regimes since September 11, should not deceive anyone.
More dangerous than arrests and detention is the use of the media against the regime’s political opponents, and the transformation of television stations and newspapers into weapons. In October 2014, 17 editors .. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/28/egypt-civilian-infrastructure-army-jurisdiction-miltary-court .. signed a document in which they pledged not to criticise Egypt’s army because it was engaged in a war against terror and all criticism of the organs of state should end.
This move angered hundreds of journalists who signed a statement criticising their editors’ submission to pressure from the regime. But the media organisations forced them to abide by the regime’s directives. In a few rare cases, presenters attempted to cover sensitive topics but they were stopped during the broadcast of their programmes.
When Wael Al Abrash, who works with Dream TV, a station that supports the regime, attempted to address corruption in the health and educational ministries, the studio lights were switched off.
Today in Egypt journalism has become a hostage to the regime – creating a climate of fear that ultimately fuels extremism, violence and political narrow-mindedness.
The Arab spring had promised to pave the way for peaceful change, especially among the younger generation; that dream has now ended, to be replaced by a nightmare situation in which extremism can take hold.
It is great news to hear of Greste’s release from an Egyptian prison. But now it is imperative that all those who care for freedom of speech continue their campaign to defend all Egyptian journalists and to save the country’s media.
That remains our moral duty and humanitarian obligation; only then will our happiness be complete.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/02/peter-greste-egypt-media-al-jazeera
Wadah Khanfar
This is just the start. Those who care about freedom of speech must fight to lift this climate of repression
Peter Greste, right, has now been released, but Mohamed Fahmy, centre, and Baher
Mohamed both remain in jail. Photograph: Khaled Elfiqi/EPA
Monday 2 February 2015 14.44 EST Comments 40
Peter Greste, of the al-Jazeera English television network, has been released after 400 days of detention .. http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/feb/01/peter-greste-al-jazeera-released-egypt .. in Egyptian prisons. I am delighted. The detention of the three al-Jazeera journalists is a blatant example of the deterioration of press freedom in the country.
They were arrested while conducting their professional duties, but the court imprisoned them for allegedly spreading lies and distorted the image of Egypt .. http://www.theguardian.com/world/egypt .
Our happiness following the news of Greste’s release, however, remains incomplete. The other two journalists are still in detention. It has been reported that Mohamed Fahmy, who has dual nationality, has been asked to denounce his Egyptian citizenship so he may be deported to Canada; the third journalist, Baher Mohamed, has no foreign nationality and has still been given no prospect of release.
The court’s discrimination in dealing with him was evident from the very beginning. While his two colleagues were sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment each, the court singled Mohamed out for 10 years. In fact, the detention of Egyptian journalists has now become customary – in a climate of repression and restrictions that did not exist even during the era of the former dictator Hosni Mubarak.
Since the coup which overthrew President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, and the rise to power of former armed forces chief Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, scores of journalists have been detained; six were killed in the past year. The Committee to Protect Journalists .. https://www.cpj.org/ .. has consequently classified Egypt as the third most dangerous country in the world.
The plight of the al-Jazeera journalists gained extensive international coverage. Many powerful voices were raised demanding their release; at the top of that list was the US president, Barack Obama. At the same time, hundreds of journalists and human rights organisations launched a huge international campaign of solidarity with the detainees.
It is vital that this campaign does not stop with the release of the first one or two al-Jazeera journalists. Instead, it must continue until the last Egyptian journalist is freed from the regime’s jails.
The moral stand that the world adopted toward the al-Jazeera journalists must hold for all journalists, especially those in Egypt. They do not have foreign embassies to demand their release, or governments to raise their voices in their defence. There is, sadly, no equivalent uproar concerning their detention.
We must not distinguish between a western journalist and an Egyptian journalist. All were detained because of free speech and deserve our support and solidarity.
There is also the question of the Egyptian media. By declaring that it is in an open-ended war against what it calls terrorism, the regime hoped it would appeal to western governments. It felt it could justify sacrificing rights and freedoms because the war on terror requires an end to criticism of the regime. This charade, which has been repeated by several Arab regimes since September 11, should not deceive anyone.
More dangerous than arrests and detention is the use of the media against the regime’s political opponents, and the transformation of television stations and newspapers into weapons. In October 2014, 17 editors .. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/28/egypt-civilian-infrastructure-army-jurisdiction-miltary-court .. signed a document in which they pledged not to criticise Egypt’s army because it was engaged in a war against terror and all criticism of the organs of state should end.
This move angered hundreds of journalists who signed a statement criticising their editors’ submission to pressure from the regime. But the media organisations forced them to abide by the regime’s directives. In a few rare cases, presenters attempted to cover sensitive topics but they were stopped during the broadcast of their programmes.
When Wael Al Abrash, who works with Dream TV, a station that supports the regime, attempted to address corruption in the health and educational ministries, the studio lights were switched off.
Today in Egypt journalism has become a hostage to the regime – creating a climate of fear that ultimately fuels extremism, violence and political narrow-mindedness.
The Arab spring had promised to pave the way for peaceful change, especially among the younger generation; that dream has now ended, to be replaced by a nightmare situation in which extremism can take hold.
It is great news to hear of Greste’s release from an Egyptian prison. But now it is imperative that all those who care for freedom of speech continue their campaign to defend all Egyptian journalists and to save the country’s media.
That remains our moral duty and humanitarian obligation; only then will our happiness be complete.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/02/peter-greste-egypt-media-al-jazeera
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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