Abeer Alaskary supports this view. A blogger and a former reporter at independent dailies al-Dustur and al-Badeel, Alaskary had to flee to Canada after being physically assaulted and sexually harassed by security officers in civilian clothing while covering demonstrations against the referendum on Egyptian constitutional amendments. Alaskary has also reported on the Egyptian Interior Ministry’s state security officers who have supervised the torture of activists and journalists.
This month, the African Union Court of Justice will look into the case filed by several Egyptian female journalists including Alaskary, after the Egyptian prosecution rejected it on the grounds that none of the perpetrators were identified. “I challenge whoever claims we have free press. Egypt only has young talented journalists who believe in a cause. Restrictive laws, businessmen’s welfare and controlled media will always obstruct us,” Alaskary stresses.
There could be truth in that sentiment, but Alebrashy and Abdullah al-Sinawi, editor-in-chief of the Nasserite Party’s al-Araby weekly newspaper, believe a boisterous, independent press has become a growing concern for the government. Their vitality and rising po-pularity come at the expense of the state-run papers, which are read less each day.
“What Egyptian journalists had so far achieved was fought for, earned and not granted. We should be loyal to the public, and neither to power nor the government. They do not protect us,” says Alebrashy.
“Free speech is a journalist’s right that should not be followed by a presidential grant. It is their job to expose corruption and should not be imprisoned for it. This does not mean journalists are untouchable, but freedom of speech is. If they make mistakes, they should pay reasonable and not inflated fines,” says al-Sinawi.
Ironically, the now-weak Egyptian Journalists Syndicate, which is dominated by state media board members, can cancel or suspend journalists’ membership for a year for criticizing religious or political figures, al-Sinawi adds.
Legal minefield. Thirty-three press offences are punishable with prison, including publishing inaccurate and false reports, interfering in “private lives,” defaming the president or foreign heads of state and undermining “national institutions” such as the parliament, the army or al-Azhar.
All those offences were expected to be decriminalized in 2004 as promised by President Mubarak, explains Abeer al-Saady, Egyptian Journalists Syndicate board member and an editor at the state-owned Akhbar al-Youm daily newspaper. “Only defaming civil servants has been decriminalized,” she remarks.
This does not shock Hammouda. “There is no rule in Egypt now,” he says. “A difference in opinion with Mubarak leads to pardon. But publishing a picture of the Transportation Minister attending a wedding leads to imprisonment,” he comments sarcastically.
Not only that, it has become commonly known that a group of lawyers, mostly affiliated with Mubarak’s NDP, are now the ones who file cases against journalists. “Corruption spreads in small and big organizations. The West talks about democracy in Egypt, I say fight corruption first and then introduce democracy,” says al-Saady.
But do Egyptian journalists abroad fear a rollback in what independent newspapers at home have achieved?

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