{"id":21142,"date":"2021-03-02T17:13:27","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T15:13:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/afteegypt.org\/?p=21142"},"modified":"2021-03-10T17:09:26","modified_gmt":"2021-03-10T15:09:26","slug":"short-version-a-continued-isolation-the-annual-report-on-the-state-of-freedom-of-expression-in-egypt-in-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/afteegypt.org\/en\/research-en\/monitoring-reports-en\/2021\/03\/02\/21142-afteegypt.html","title":{"rendered":"short version | A Continued Isolation… The Annual Report on The State of Freedom of Expression in Egypt in 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The report was prepared and written by: The Research Unit team and the Monitoring and Documentation Unit of the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE).<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Executive summary<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

The Egyptian government’s first reaction to the outbreak of the 25 January 2011 revolution was represented in blocking. There were huge demonstrations in the street, and the scenario of the Tunisian revolution that ousted Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from power was about to be repeated in Egypt. The best solution from the authorities\u2019 point of view at the time was to isolate people from what was happening abroad and isolate them from each other at home, by blocking social media platforms and cutting off the internet and communication networks.<\/p>\n

The regime of late President Hosni Mubarak imposed various forms of blocking during the eighteen days that preceded its ouster, not all of which succeeded in averting his departure. Despite Mubarak’s departure, blocking has continued under the successive regimes, albeit at different degrees and under different pretexts.<\/p>\n

The year 2020 witnessed the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, which spread in almost all countries of the world. The pandemic constituted a new test for the Egyptian government on several levels, the most important of which was the increasing importance of transparency and information availability. Despite the steps taken to provide information about the numbers of Covid-19 infects and fatalities, the systematic withholding of information continued and its danger increased during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Ten years after the Egyptian revolution, and a year after the outbreak of the global pandemic, blocking has continued to exit. It included the blocking of websites and the withholding of information, which has clearly been evident in the way the government handled the pandemic crisis. The Egyptian authorities, represented by the Supreme State Security Prosecution, the Supreme Council for Media Regulation (SCMR), the National Press Authority (NPA) and the State Information Service (SIS), continued to ban the work of journalists, detain political activists, social media users, doctors and researchers, and block websites for allegedly publishing \u201cfalse\u201d information about the Covid-19 situation, including infection rates in Egypt, or for criticizing the policies adopted by the government and the health ministry to combat the pandemic. The authorities also continued to monopolize official data and statistics, if any, in a clear absence of transparency. Thus, the authorities took the pandemic as another pretext for violating many rights and freedoms.<\/p>\n

Confronting a crisis like this requires transparency and communication, as both represent a safety valve for society and the government during the pandemic. Transparency has to do with real and free circulation of information from official sources and supporting the role of the media as a key factor in confronting the crisis, and not a party to the crisis that should be besieged and suppressed. This requires an open and competitive media space, and a free internet space that is not restricted or blocked, as part of better procedures to govern the media scene.<\/p>\n

AFTE\u2019s position in this regard is based on Article 68 of the Egyptian Constitution which stipulates that the state shall provide information and make it available to citizens with transparency, which is crucial for individuals and societies to protect themselves from the virus. Despite the SCMR\u2019s approval of a draft law on information circulation in 2017, the Egyptian parliament has since continued to postpone discussion and endorsement of the law, thus affecting the right to access to information, which is one of the main pillars of maintaining public health during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

In its annual report for 2020, AFTE reviews the state of digital rights, media freedom, freedom of creativity, academic freedom and student rights during the pandemic, highlighting the features of withholding information and how the pandemic has turned into another pretext for violating rights and freedoms.<\/p>\n

The report concludes by presenting a set of recommendations to decision-makers in Egypt in order to move towards ensuring freedom of expression and information circulation. AFTE asserts that disclosure of information is a basic right for citizens, and it has become more important in the fight against Covid-19. Disclosure of information contributes to raising citizens’ awareness and mobilizing the capabilities of the health sector and civil society, in addition to organizing the work of state institutions and the private sector under appropriate measures.<\/p>\n

Freedom of expression during the Covid-19 pandemic in Egypt<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic was the focal point in 2020, as matters have been assessed only by taking the emerging health situation into account, either directly or indirectly. The first section of this report reviews three main issues: Firstly, the current state of information circulation in Egypt and the need for a clear legislative structure that supports transparency; secondly, the state of culture, creativity and digital rights during the pandemic; and finally, the report traces the impacts of the pandemic on the conditions of pretrial detainees in cases related to freedom of thought and expression.<\/p>\n

The report tries to determine whether the authorities dealt fairly and transparently with issues related to freedom of expression during the pandemic or they took the exceptional health situation as a pretext to further restrict freedoms. In this regard, the report reviews key developments during the year which can give an overview of the official performance at the legislative, judicial and executive levels.<\/p>\n

First: Information circulation during the pandemic<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

The pandemic and its repercussions reflected the increasing need for the right to access to information and the need to have professional press that exercises its work freely in tackling public issues and presenting them to the public. They also reflected the need to establish popular oversight and accountability of the executive authority, transparency and communication as a basic guarantee to enable citizens to know the health challenges they face, as well as to facilitate cooperation between the government and civil society in order to strengthen and mobilize their joint efforts to protect the public health from a global pandemic that has threatened and still threatens the lives of millions of people.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, restriction, prevention, and blackout continued as a prevailing pattern in the state’s policy in dealing with information, rather than making it available and circulating in a transparent manner, and promoting the citizens\u2019 right to knowledge. This can be demonstrated by the following four indicators:<\/p>\n