SANEF condemns Egyptian media censorship

2 Feb 2011

The South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF) has condemned Egypt's shutdown of Middle Eastern broadcaster, Al-Jazeera's operations in Cairo and the harassment of its journalists by detaining and then releasing them. SANEF is calling on Egyptian leaders to restore electronic communication and to remove the ban on Al-Jazeera immediately.

SANEF condemns Egyptian media censorship

The announcement was made on state television in Egypt on Sunday, 30 January 2011, that authorities were revoking the Al Jazeera Network's licence to broadcast from the country.

"The cries from the citizens of Egypt are for democratic government, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of movement and President Hosni Mubarak has indicated that he is responding to those demands by changing his cabinet and claiming to be intent on introducing reforms," says SANEF in its statement addressed to the Egyptian government.

Demanding freedom of expression

"The main demand of the protesters is for freedom of expression, yet the Egyptian government has closed down one of the region's most important exponents of freedom of expression, Al-Jazeera. This act suggests that the government has no intention of effecting meaningful reform but seeks to prevent its people from having access to accurate news and information about events in Egypt and elsewhere."

SANEF also condemned the government cutting cellphone communication and access to the internet stating "not only because it is unconstitutional conduct by Egyptian and African Union standards and involves an assault on journalistic freedom but because it prevents the public of Egypt from knowing what is going on."

The South African organisation has commended Al-Jazeera in continuing to maintain its news services - and especially its bulletins about the situation in Egypt and the Middle East - to other parts of the world.