Egypt / Middle East & North Africa

  
A banner depicting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is seen outside a polling station, during the referendum on draft constitutional amendments, in Cairo, Egypt, on April 20, 2019. (Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh)

Egypt tests new censorship law with handling of al-Mashhad website block

Magdy Shandi, editor-in-chief of the Cairo-based independent newspaper al-Mashhad, planned to send 30 journalists to report from polling stations while votes were being cast in Egypt’s constitutional referendum between April 20 and April 22. He ended up ordering them to stay away, he told CPJ in a telephone interview in May. The state’s media regulator…

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Egyptian photojournalist Shawkan plays with his niece at his home in Cairo after being freed from prison on March 4. As a condition of his release , Shawkan must return to custody every day at 6 p.m. (AFP/Khaled Desouk)

In Egypt, ‘freedom’ ends daily at 6pm for Shawkan and Abdelfattah

Relief over the release of Egyptian journalists Mahmoud Abou Zeid, known as Shawkan, and Alaa Abdelfattah from prison last month has been clouded by the conditions of their freedom. “I am happy to see your joy over my release, but I am unfortunately not free,” Abdelfattah wrote to his large following on social media yesterday.…

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On International Women’s Day, CPJ highlights jailed female journalists

On International Women’s Day, CPJ has highlighted the cases of female journalists jailed around the world in retaliation for their work. At least 33 of the 251 journalists in jail at the time of CPJ’s prison census are women. At least one of those–Turkish reporter and artist Zehra Dogan–was released in February after serving a…

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Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abou Zeid, also known as Shawkan, center, is hugged by his parents at his home in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, March 4, 2019. Shawkan was released after five years in prison. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Egyptian photojournalist Shawkan finally free after over 5 years in jail

Washington, D.C., March 4, 2019–Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abou Zeid, also known as Shawkan, was today released from prison after spending over five years in detention on anti-state charges, according to a post from his Twitter account. According to news reports, Shawkan said he was officially approved for release on Sunday night but held by police…

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The Cairo International Airport is pictured through the window of a plane. Two journalists were recently detained at the airport in separate cases. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

Egypt expels New York Times correspondent, detains local journalist on false news charges

Washington, D.C., February 19, 2019–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns yesterday’s detention and expulsion of New York Times correspondent David D. Kirkpatrick and the ongoing detention of Egyptian journalist Ahmed Gamal Ziada, and calls on Egyptian authorities to allow journalists to travel into the country and report freely.

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Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is seen on a television screen at the press center during the Africa 2018 Forum in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on December 8, 2018. An Egyptian TV presenter was sentenced to prison for an interview with a gay man on January 20, 2019. (Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh)

Egyptian TV presenter sentenced to prison for interview with gay man

New York, January 24, 2019–Egyptian authorities should drop all charges against TV presenter Mohamed al-Gheiti and stop their relentless campaign against journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Reuters journalist Kyaw Soe Oo is led handcuffed from a court in Yangon in September. He and colleague Wa Lone are serving seven-year prison sentences in Myanmar. (Reuters/Ann Wang)

Hundreds of journalists jailed globally becomes the new normal

For the third year in a row, 251 or more journalists are jailed around the world, suggesting the authoritarian approach to critical news coverage is more than a temporary spike. China, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia imprisoned more journalists than last year, and Turkey remained the world’s worst jailer. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

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A protester wears a mask depicting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman with painted hands next to people holding posters of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi during the demonstration outside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul on October 25, 2018. (AFP/Yasin Akgul)

Saudi control of Arab media, lamented by Khashoggi, shapes coverage of his death

It is a cruel irony that Jamal Khashoggi’s last unpublished column for The Washington Post was a call for press freedom in the Arab world. His homeland, Saudi Arabia, has spent the last three decades and hundreds of millions of dollars to ensure that never happens.

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Live Stream – Press Behind Bars: Undermining Justice and Democracy

Event scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. EDT on Friday, September 28, 2018. Committee to Protect Journalists Executive Director Joel Simon, Reuters President and CPJ board member Stephen J. Adler, and human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, who represents the imprisoned Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, speak on a panel at the 73rd…

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Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abou Zeid, also known as Shawkan, looks on behind bars in his trial on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt, on May 31, 2016. Shawkan was sentenced to five years in prison on September 8, 2018. (Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh)

Egypt sentences photojournalist Shawkan to five years

Washington, D.C., September 8, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned an Egyptian court’s sentencing of photojournalist Mahmoud Abou Zeid, also known as “Shawkan,” to five years in prison, and called on authorities to release him immediately and remove any restriction on his release on appeal.

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