Egypt
Widely considered the political and cultural center of the Middle East, Egypt has nonetheless manifested a poor record in the protection of human rights. Under British control since 1882, Egypt gained independence in 1922 after continuous revolts sparked throughout the country. The Egyptian Republic was declared in 1953 after the monarchy was removed. The current president is Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, the leader of the ruling National Democratic Party. He is serving his fifth term since this assassination of former president Mohammed Anwar El-Sadat. The Emergency Law, in place since 1981, was renewed for two years in April 2006.
Mubarak thought to be grooming his son Gamal for the succession (actually, the army is unlikely to allow this). Muslim and Coptic nationalism and related sectarian violence has become endemic, and has been met by governmental human rights abuses, including torture.
Egypt has an extremely poor record with regard to freedom of expression. The press is highly controlled by Press Laws, Publication Laws and the Penal Code, and writers in Egypt constantly face harrassment and prosecution for their work. In July 2006, Parliament passed a new press law, removing a clause allowing the imprisonment of journalists accused of defaming government officials. However, this law has been condemned by writers on the basis that is has increased restrictions on freedom of expression by placing heavier fines for libel. Several editions of foreign newspapers were banned in Egypt because they were perceived as insulting Islam.
Recently, the Government has also begun to target Internet writers. On 22 February 2007 Abdul Kareem Nabeel Suleiman, also known as Kareem Amer, was sentenced to four years in prison for defaming Islam and the President Mubarak. For more information on his case, please click here.
For more information on Defamation in Egypt, please read International PEN's report written by Trevor Mostyn, which can be found here.
On September 13 2007, four independent opposition newspaper editor, Adil Hamuda (Al-Fagr), Wael al-Ibrashi (Sawt al-Umma), Abd al-Halim Qandil (Al-Karama) and Ibrahim Issa (Al-Dustur), were accused of publishing "with malicious intent, false news, statements or rumors likely to disturb public order". They were sentenced to a maximum one-year imprisonment and a fine of US$3,500 at a Cairo misdemeanor court.
Sources: For further information, based on primary research, see the annual reports from Amnesty International (http://www.amnesty.org/), the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (http://www.cpj.org/), Reporters Without Borders (http://www.rsf.fr/) and the International Freedom of Expression eXchange (http://ifex.org/) . See also Human Rights Watch (http://www.hrw.org/). For more general information on Egypt, see the Foreign and Commonwealth Office country profile (www.fco.gov.uk).