Comunicaci´ on Interprocesador

The policy of repression established by Sisi’s government also took the form of concentrated pressure on the media. The aim was to silence public criticism of the military, the police and other security operatives, by concealing the violence perpetrated against anyone opposing the regime, with particular emphasis on the Muslim Brotherhood. This pressure was also intended to conceal the arbitrary arrests and detentions from the general public (Bassiouni, 2017). The aim of this chapter is therefore to analyse and answer the following sub-question:

How is the media being repressed in order to cover-up the violence perpetrated by the government against dissenters?

The media began to be targeted, after the ouster of President Morsi in July 2013, and once the military had regained its control of government, despite the fact

that the 2014 Constitution contains several encouraging provisions regarding freedom of speech and the media. For example, article 65, which guarantees freedom of thought, opinion, and speech (Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt, 2014). Likewise, article 68 affirms that all official state documents and information are the property of the people, who have the right to access the same in transparent manner (Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt, 2014). Articles 70, 71, and 72 of the Constitution all provide rights that support a free media environment (Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt, 2014), i.e. freedom of the press, broadcast and digital sectors; right to establish media outlets; bans on prison terms for press-related offences; declaration of independence and neutrality of all state-owned media outlets. The contradiction arises when these positive aspects are weakened by a series of exceptions and vague provisions. A clear example of such exceptions appears in article 71, which provides that limited censorship is permitted in times of war or general mobilization. This article also leaves room for interpretation, where it provides that the law must provide the penalties for incitement of violence (Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt, 2014). This shows that the Constitution fails to establish the circumstances in which these exceptions apply, which has resulted in legislation creating structures that enabled political influence.

As a consequence of this, a number of criminal offences were created, namely the crimes of defaming the military, defaming the judiciary, incitement of violence or riot and incitement of revolt against the ruling regime (Bassiouni, 2017). Despite the fact that these offences are vague and ambiguous, the judiciary, which is aligned with the government (as will be discussed on chapter 3), has convicted on the basis of the commission of such crimes. According to a Freedom House report on freedom of the press in 2017, Egypt is the country in the world with the third worst record in terms of the imprisonment of journalists, with 25 journalists imprisoned as of December 2016 (Freedom House, 2017). The US State Department, in its 2015 Human Rights Report on Egypt, reported the arrest, imprisonment, harassment and intimidation of journalists by both state and non-state actors (United States Department of State, 2015).

4.1 Actions against journalists

The following examples provide a better illustration of the existing repressive practices against journalists. In 2015, Egyptian security forces shut down the two most prominent literary and art centres in Cairo, namely the Townhouse Gallery and the Merit Publishing House, on the grounds of tax offences (Bassiouni, 2017). In April 2015, 13 journalists were sentenced to life prison for conspiring against the state during the Rabaa Square episode. In May 2016, security forces raided the headquarters of the Egyptian Journalist’s Union to arrest Mahmoud el-Sakka and Amr Badr, and in June, the head of the Union, Yahya Qalash was accused of spreading false news (Freedom House, 2017). In February 2016, Hossam Bahgat, a leading journalist, who works for the online newspaper Mada Masr, was detained for allegedly accepting foreign funding to undermine national security (Freedom House, 2017).

These are just some examples of the constant mass of arrests and prosecutions against journalists and media related institutions.

4.2 Full control of media outlets

Furthermore, Sisi issued a counterterrorism law in 2015 (chapter 3), which prohibits journalists from publishing news related to militant violence that contradicts the official government version. This restricts the reporting of sensitive issues, namely the areas affected by terrorism and insurgency, particularly in the Sinai Peninsula (Freedom House, 2017).

Finally, the repression of the media is consummated via recourse to alternative narratives, which support the government and justify the closing off of the public space and the restriction of democracy. These narratives are presented in the form of conspiracy theories, defamation campaigns and hate speech against voices of dissent and opposition movements, particularly the MB (Hamzawy, 2017). As Freedom House reports, in 2016, the public and private media outlets continued to embrace pro-Sisi and anti-Muslim Brotherhood narratives, along with strong support to the security forces (Freedom House, 2017). State-owned newspapers described the 2013 coup as a “national victory over the Muslim Brotherhood’s conspiracy to overthrow Egypt” (Hamzawy, 2017). Likewise, privately-owned newspapers described the

Muslim Brotherhood as a group “conspiring with foreign actors, engaged in violence and terrorism, and seeking to destroy the state” (Hamzawy, 2017).

To sum up, there are almost no private media outlets based in Egypt that oppose the institutions of power, and all of them, including public media outlets, are controlled by the media regulatory bodies, created in December 2016. A majority of the members of these regulatory bodies, i.e. the National Agency for the Media, the National Agency for the Press, are appointed by the government, which undermines their independence (Freedom House, 2017).

4.3 Conclusion

In order to answer the sub-question of this chapter, i.e. “How is the media being repressed in order to cover-up the violence perpetrated by the government against dissenters?”, an analysis of the efforts of the Sisi government to suppress insurgents and close critical news sources, was conducted.

Government officials have directly brought pressure to bear on the media, not only via the arrest of journalists, but also via ambiguous interpretations of the Constitution and the formulation of new laws. The total control of media outlets can be seen from the narratives they present to the public, which portray the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist and Sisi’s government as the saviour of the nation. Moreover, no space is left for private media outlets, as they are subject to strict control by the corresponding regulatory bodies.

CHAPTER 5 – LAW-MAKING AT THE SERVICE OF A