(EOHR/IFEX) – The following is a 13 March 2006 EOHR press release: A national campaign for adopting the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate’s (EJS) draft law annulling imprisonment sentences in opinion and publication cases A collective demand by editors-in-chief of Egyptian newspapers, media professors, and representatives of human rights organizations, to initiate a national campaign to end […]
(EOHR/IFEX) – The following is a 13 March 2006 EOHR press release:
A national campaign for adopting the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate’s (EJS) draft law annulling imprisonment sentences in opinion and publication cases
A collective demand by editors-in-chief of Egyptian newspapers, media professors, and representatives of human rights organizations, to initiate a national campaign to end the possibility of imprisonment for publication offenses is finally being realized.
University professors, members of the Higher Education Teaching Association, representatives from civil society, unions and political parties will participate in the campaign which is calling for the adoption of the draft law provided by the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate (EJS), annulling imprisonment sentences in opinion and publication cases. They also asked President Mubarak to fulfill his promise regarding the same issue.
The demand came at the closing of a seminar organised by the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) entitled, “Towards a Law Annulling the Imprisonment Sentence in Publication Cases”, on 12 March 2006.
Participants asserted that in order to enhance freedom of speech, freedom of expression and press freedom in particular, a package of legislative and practical procedures should be enacted by the Egyptian government and the People’s Assembly.
The demands of the campaign participants are as follows:
1- Annul imprisonment sentences in publication cases, as President Mubarak promised in February 2004, in order to protect the press and journalists’ freedom, in accordance with the Constitution and international laws upholding the right to free opinion and expression, while limiting sentences in such cases to fines. This should be the appropriate practice, especially considering that the injured party has the right to respond in the same newspaper and to file a case demanding remedy in a civil court of law, if the journalist is proven guilty.
In addition, the campaign highlights the fact that the legislative amendments related to the presidential promise should include articles penalizing journalists with imprisonment, in all laws related to expression, publication and publishing. Such articles are found in many laws, including the publications law, Penal Code, Journalism Regulation Law, State Documents Law, Civil State Personnel, Army news restrictions and military verdicts, political parties law, and intelligence law. The EJS supports the provisions on union accountability in the Journalists’ Charter.
2- Provide amendments to Article 47 of the Constitution, as it entrusts the regulation of freedom of opinion and expression to the legislator, but specifies no standards for the legislator to follow. As a result, this led to the appearance of many laws that did not regulate these freedoms, but were instead aimed at restricting them by banning all means of expression of opinions (Article 171 of Penal Code). Also the criticism of Article 206 of the Constitution by law experts should be considered. The article considered journalism as a fourth authority, along with the executive, legislative and judicial authorities. However, it denied journalism its rightful autonomy and authority, which led to the three other authorities’ intervention in its affairs.
3- Adopt measures needed to ensure the safety and integrity of journalists, against abuse, assassination, arrest, monitoring and assault. EOHR confirms the occurence of events of violence against journalists, which are considered a breach of basic human rights, such as the right to live, the right to freedom and personal safety, the right to avoid torture, according to the rights mentioned in the International Declaration of Human Rights and in the Egyptian Constitution. Article 280 of the Penal Code stipulated the right not to be arrested, imprisoned or detained without an order from the authority with such jurisdiction. On the other hand, in the national criminal legislation, Article 40 of the Criminal Procedures Law stipulated that, “Arresting or detaining any person is not allowed but by the authorities with the proper jurisdiction, and such person shall be handled in a manner respecting his human dignity, and he shall not be harmed either physically or mentally”.
4- Uphold the freedom to own and publish newspapers, and operate audio and T.V. channels to political parties, syndicates, associations and all “judicial and natural Egyptian persons with full legal capacity”; reconsidering state ownership of national and media institutions, therefore preventing them from ever again being owned by a single person or party.
5- Prepare a legal mechanism penalizing the restriction of information to journalists, by any government or public authority, and banning any restrictions on the freedom of information flow, notwithstanding defense and national security needs, and avoiding discrimination in the granting of information to different newspapers.
6- End the governmental control over media means, strictly and directly stressing the autonomy of all forms of media and maintaining their neutrality, whether they be state-owned or private sector agencies.
7- Put an end to the state of emergency, which is considered one of the main breaches of freedom of opinion and expression, since the emergency law gives the executive authority the right to take whatever arbitrary measures it sees fit. Article 48 of the Constitution allows for supervision over newspapers and publications in the case of a state of emergency, and also gives the executive the right to confiscate publications and newspapers and to shut them down, even though this is confined to cases where public security is at stake. However, Article 3 of the current emergency law increased the powers of the executive in this regard, allowing the executive branch to confiscate, ban and shut down publications, diminishing the constitutional provision that constrained this. This is in addition to what the emergency law allows, such as the ability to conduct random arrests, detention and imprisonment.
8- Reconsider journalists’ payroll structure. According to World Bank indexes, journalists’ salaries are below the poverty line. It is also important to abolish the risks of the “special bonuses” in addition to the official salaries in the newspapers, a problem found in most governmental institutions. The bonuses have sometimes become as much as double the salaries in the Balance Sheet, which is considered a serious breach of the “Payment for Work” principle, followed in most countries.
9- Annul or constrain the Egyptian government’s stance of setting reservations on the international charters related to freedom of opinion and expression, as such reservations will lead to the possibility of breaching such charters by the national legislation.
