Daily Times

Donald Trump was the man who shone the global spotlight on Egyptian President el-Sisi’s shoes. Sadly, the unquiet American hasn’t been quite so forthcoming on the increasingly suffocating space for journalists and media organisations under the rule of the country’s former military chief.

Egypt’s crackdown on private news outlets has taken a turn for the worse. Just this week alone, Al-Boursa’s, one of the country’s most high-profile financial papers has had access to its website blocked. So, too, did its sister publication the English language Daily News Egypt. Fortunately, these were unblocked for most users some 24 hours later. Others, that is, some of the 21 websites blocked previously by the authorities had to wait around five days to have access largely restored. Those that came under fire include Al Jazeera, Huffington Post Arabic and the progressive local independent website Mada Masr.

This is censorship at its most extreme. And the line given by the Egyptian authorities that the targeted websites are guilty of supporting terrorism, usually a byword for having ties with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, being funded by Qatar or else of spreading false news simply doesn’t fly.

Yet the question remains as to why Donald Trump, a man known for speaking off the cuff, stayed silent. Especially given that he was in Riyadh for a much-touted summit on curbing Islamist extremism that didn’t appear to involve much beyond selling arms to one of the world’s largest exporters of said extremist ideology.

And herein lies the rub. State institutions must also fall under those who are to be protected from a radical agenda not restricted exclusively to that being waged by extremists — but also one waged by the state itself. Egypt is no stranger to suppressing the freedom of journalists to work in their professional capacity. Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Hussein, an Egyptian national, has spent 160 days detained without charge by the Egyptian authorities. Allegations levelled against him include “incitement against state institutions and broadcasting false news with the aim of spreading chaos”. He was held for 89 consecutive days in solitary confinement. His ‘luck’ might be about to change as a US-based advocacy group has filed a petition with the UN for his immediate release.

Sadly, Hussein is one of the fortunate ones. Others have been executed; with video footage of the targeted assassinations being circulated by the state as evidence of Egypt’s anti-terrorist victory. Simply put. This cannot go on. President el-Sisi must be stopped from taking his country down this dangerous path. For when journalists come under fire — who else is left?  *