Egypt Independent
In Egypt, setbacks on expression persist through legal avenues
Sun, 15/04/2012
Jano Charbel
Blows to freedom of expression have been ongoing in the
year that lapsed since the 25 January revolution, causing observers to
worry about the direction of an uprising that mainly called for the
establishment of different liberties.
A common pre-revolutionary practice that still prevails now
is that of using the legal system to curtail freedom of expression. The
legal culture, the laws and the litigation processes have led to
successful attacks on freedom of expression in the past.
Currently, remnants of the old regime, the ruling military council and Islamist lawyers are using the same tools.
On 26 February, Kamal Abbas, director of the Center for
Trade Union and Workers’ Services, was sentenced in absentia to six
months in prison for insulting Ismail Fahmy, a leading figure in the
state-controlled Egyptian Trade Union Federation and a former member of
Hosni Mubarak’s now-disbanded National Democratic Party.
Abbas received this sentence in light of comments he made
on 9 June while attending a conference of the International Labor
Organization in Geneva. Abbas reportedly interrupted Fahmy while he was
delivering a speech to the conference. The labor activist criticized the
trade union federation and its officials for representing the ruling
regime, rather than workers.
At Helwan’s Court of Misdemeanors, defense lawyer and
former manpower minister Ahmed Hassan al-Borai told Egypt Independent
that “this lawsuit is a politicized case, not a legal case.” He said
Mubarak regime members in the Egyptian Trade Union Federation were
attempting to settle scores with Abbas for his activism in the field of
independent trade unionism.
Borai added that such criticism does not constitute libel,
slander or defamation, according to Egypt’s Penal Code, and moreover,
“this alleged crime took place in Switzerland, not Egypt.” The lawyer
said the case against Abbas should be thrown out, “as free speech is not
criminalized in Switzerland.”
This is an attack on freedom of expression and on the free labor union movement, Borai concluded.
“In general, freedom of expression has been under attack
since the revolution,” he said, “yet each lawsuit is different and has
its own specific background.”
Another prevalent practice that predates the revolution is
that third parties raise cases against individuals, threatening their
freedom of expression on the basis that they harm religious values. This
practice was commonly pursued against artists and writers.
Egypt’s top comedian, Adel Imam, was sentenced in February
to three months imprisonment on charges of “defaming religion” in his
movies.
An Islamist lawyer, Asran Mansour, had filed a lawsuit against Imam claiming that his movies portray a "contempt of religion," a charge criminalized under Article 98(F) of the Penal Code.
Similarly, Naguib Sawiris, the Christian
billionaire-turned-liberal political sponsor, came under fire in June
when he posted on Twitter an image of a bearded Mickey Mouse with Minnie
Mouse donning a full face veil. Sawiris came under fierce criticism for
his tweet and was accused of “defaming Islam and its symbols.”
Although Sawiris posted an official apology, Islamist MP
Mamdouh Ismail filed a lawsuit against him, claiming he had openly
displayed contempt of religion. Earlier this month, the Abul Ela Court
of Misdemeanors threw out the charges leveled against Sawiris.
Political bloggers, who have commonly been legally
penalized for their online publishing before the revolution, haven’t
been spared afterwards.
Maikel Nabil is a case in point. On 10 April 2011, a
military court sentenced Nabil to three years in prison on charges of
“insulting the military” in his blog post titled “The army and the
people were never one hand.”
The blogger went on hunger strike in his
prison cell and demands for his release grew steadily. Two days prior to
the anniversary of the 25 January revolution, the Supreme Council of
the Armed Forces pardoned him.
Emad Mubarak, executive director of the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression,
said that “freedom of expression has definitely increased since
revolution but is still facing numerous obstacles and threats.”
“In the past, people were afraid to speak or express their
opinions, while journalists couldn’t discuss anything pertaining to the
military institution,” he said. “Now people are talking freely and
journalists are openly criticizing the military junta,” he said.
But setbacks are represented by the ruling military
council’s several attacks on freedom of expression as manifest in
bloggers’ detentions, journalists’ interrogations and the attempt to
legalize a ban on protests, Mubarak said.
“This transitional stage is hazy and the future is not yet
clear. We’ll wait and see where this transfer of authority goes,” said
Mubarak. The election of a president and the conclusion of this interim
period “will help us understand the trajectory of the revolution, and
then we will be able to assess the future of freedom of expression.”
Mubarak added that the Islamist ascent can also be conducive to limiting freedom of expression.
“Old laws that allow for violations of the right to freedom
of expression are still in use, while new laws are being discussed and
drafted. Yet many of these drafts are not promising. A number of the
draft laws proposed by the Islamist MPs are worrisome and disturbing,”
Mubarak said.
“If issued, these conservative laws will threaten not only
freedom of expression, but also freedom of assembly and association,
along with other liberties,” he added.
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