(EOHR/IFEX) – The following is a 10 March 2001 EOHR press release: Further Amendments to the Documents Law in a bid to slay the press in Egypt Further amendments to the Documents Law come as a fresh aggression on freedom of the press and relevant practices in Egypt. They are part of a series of […]
(EOHR/IFEX) – The following is a 10 March 2001 EOHR press release:
Further Amendments to the Documents Law in a bid to slay the press in Egypt
Further amendments to the Documents Law come as a fresh aggression on freedom of the press and relevant practices in Egypt. They are part of a series of recurrent attacks by the Egyptian government to assassinate freedom of opinion and expression. These were initiated by Law no. 93 of 1995, which was amended in pursuance of Law no. 96 of 1995, following extensive pressure from the Press Syndicate and human rights organizations. Notwithstanding such modifications, the freedom-depriving penalties are still intimidating journalists, particularly after the arrest of a number of journalists for publication crimes in the course of the past three years.
The organization, within the framework of its campaign to defend and advocate freedom of opinion and expression, has called upon the Government over and over again to enhance freedom of opinion and expression. This would be done by abolishing or amending the texts of articles 86b, 98b, 102, 102b, 161 (paragraph 2), 171, 174, 176, 177, 178, 179, 187, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193 and 194 of the Penal Law.
Nevertheless, the aforementioned bill came totally unexpectedly upon the organization. Upon first reading, the organization found out that the government submitted this bill to the Peopleâs Assembly with a view to incorporating new amendments into the Documents Law. These amendments would stipulate the imposition of a five-year arrest penalty and a L.E. 10,000 (US$2,589) fine on whoever publishes or photocopies an official document without prior written consent from the Cabinet. Moreover, it includes an amendment to impose a six-month arrest penalty and a L.E. 5,000 (US$1,295) fine on whoever refrains from submitting a document for which this law is applicable, abstains from reporting his acquisition of any such document, dissipates or ruins it, or deals conclusively with it without permission.
The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights believes that such amendments to be adopted by the Peopleâs Assembly would enforce severe conditions and restrictions on the rights to information, communication and licit criticism.
In this respect, the organization notes the following:
First, the bill has not specified a clear-cut definition of the official documents to be amended. It is a well-established fact that any document or instrument issued by any governmental authority is given official status. The bill has resorted to stretchable terms to define confidential documents, including all types of political, security, economic and social documents.
Second, whether these documents should be considered confidential or public is ultimately an administrative decision, made by an administrative authority. These amendments would “immunize” this process from judicial monitoring, since a judge is prohibited from ruling on the confidentiality or public nature of a given document. This is an unconstitutional measure that forbids an administrative ruling from being challenged before the courts.
Third, these amendments would impose further governmental monopolisation of information, at a time when the world is witnessing communications and technology revolutions, and initiatives by individuals and private institutions to transfer information and promote its flow.
Fourth, these amendments are in violation of paragraph 2 of Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which stipulates the following:
Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers.
In paragraph 3 of the aforementioned article, it is stated that the only two limitations to the right established in paragraph 2 is the respect of othersâ rights, and the protection of national security, public health and public morals.
By virtue of Article 151 of the Constitution, this text is given statutory force.
Fifth, these amendments are inconsistent with Press Authority Law no. 96 of 1996, which stipulates the right of journalists to access and publish information. In addition, they further contradict with protections for journalists not to disclose their sources in acquiring information and documents. Furthermore, these amendments are incongruous with Articles 46, 47 and 48 of the Constitution, which safeguard freedom of opinion and expression.
Sixth, these amendments would undermine the ability of the grassroots to monitor governmental actions and discuss pertinent reports. As a result, corruption would prevail in society, as the Egyptian press plays a vital role in casting light on its pits and dens, and discloses its evils to all people.
Thus, the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights calls anew for the following:
That the Egyptian legislature review all legislation that would impede freedom of opinion and expression, in a manner consistent with the relevant international instruments. This should also be done to avoid flexible or “expandable” expressions that are abundant in the legislation, and that could be interpreted in different ways, which only pave the way for the authorities to incriminate opinions. In addition, it is important to have new methodologies for drafting the bill. Thus, penal legislative texts should be made clear and definitive, in a way that guarantees not to undermine fundamental constitutional rights that protect press activities, freedom of opinion and expression, and the freedom to publish newspapers.
