UN Expresses Concern Over Press Freedom in Egypt
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern on Tuesday over what it described as an escalation in attacks on press freedom by Egyptian authorities, calling for the immediate release of detained journalists.
Thameen Al-Khitan, spokesperson for UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, said, "These alarming developments must be stopped immediately, and journalists must be enabled to perform their vital work freely, without intimidation or reprisal."
He added, "The authorities must release all journalists from the Matsada2sh website and drop the charges brought against them for the legitimate practice of their journalistic work."
Last September, Egyptian police arrested the entire editorial team of the fact-checking platform Matsada2sh, accusing the six journalists of spreading misleading information on behalf of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, which the platform denied.
Last month, an Egyptian court convicted the editor-in-chief of the well-known independent news site Mada Masr of operating the site without a license and ordered its closure.
Following this, the board of the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate issued a statement saying it was "in the process of taking all established legal and union measures that establish the rules of justice, protect the community's right to a free press, and preserve the freedom and diversity of publication."
The board emphasized that "freedom of publication and safeguarding media diversity are not just a union demand, but a fundamental guarantee for the vitality of society, the representation of all its segments, and a condition for a free press capable of performing its role in serving the community. The absence of fair and transparent rules in licensing procedures opens the door to prosecuting those running websites, sometimes through blocking, and other times through reports and legal pursuits."
The board demanded a halt to prosecutions related to lack of licensing, ensuring that administrative procedures are not used as a tool to pressure journalists, opening a dialogue on the licensing system while granting a specific period to regularize their status, and releasing all those detained in cases related to journalistic work, freedom of publication, and expression.
It also called for lifting restrictions on journalistic work and the need for a diverse, free media representative of all segments of society, affirming its full solidarity with journalists at unlicensed sites and its readiness to participate in any serious effort to "correct this path, defend our colleagues, and defend our right and the community's right to freedom of publication, ensuring a diverse and free press that monitors, corrects, and expresses the views of citizens, in a manner befitting our nation and protecting our future."
Source: United Nations + Egyptian Journalists Syndicate
