Egyptian Chronicles: Updates about Press Freedom in Egypt

Ok I spoke about the past so much in the last couple of weeks and I forgot about the present and the future of this country , the official Arab Republic of Egypt

Now It is about the present , the not so good current present in which the Press Freedom is living currently under the threats that range from jail to lashes !!

We got very good news ,strange news and bad news

First the good News :

Last week in the famous trial of Ibrahim Eissa Economic experts and official documents proved that what he wrote did not affect on the Egyptian stock market and did not make Egypt loss millions as the official press and media claimed

Just little side info ,I remember very well that official newspapers during the time of the deadly rumors they publishing on how great the Egyptian stock market was doing then on the front page in a silly way , and for honesty I asked a friend of mine working in a very famous brokerage powerful company in Egypt about the influence of that rumor on the stock market , already as some one who studied the stock market I know that the rumor any silly rumor can have a huge effect on the stock market , yes there was an effect but not a deadly one , it was an expected thing for the spread of that rumor , yet Ibrahim Eissa has nothing to do with it , because if we compared the dates of the fluctuations of the stock markets and his articles ,you would know it was before his articles

In the trial of the 4 chief in editors one of the lawyers who were suing them stepped down the case , the lawyer is the publicity and media attention seeker "Nabih El-Wahesh" and he was the only lawyer who is not from the NDP in the lawsuit , now the case is officially NDP against Press

Well it was already from the start the NDP against the Press , what Nabih had done is an attempt to appear as the good man ,already he is too clever to know that no one is considering him as the savior of the society from bad morals ,you see Nabih is famous for his daily suit cases against singers and actresses

Second the strange news:

The Judge in the case of "Howida Taha" declined to complete the case,the judge is Mr.Mahmoud Hamza , who was attacked and beaten badly by the police last year , no further explanation was given

I think Mr. Hamza decided to avoid the embarrassment , already if he ruled for "Howida" to be innocent from the charges of defaming Egypt's reputation and spread false claims it could be interpreted as a revenge from the police after what they had done to him , a personal vendetta between him and the interior ministry and if he ruled against "Howida" it would be unfair and it will be considered as hypocrisy for the interior ministry "Howida" did not do anything wrong at all , so to save the important case for biased opinions the man stepped down , I respect him , "Howida" is already facing a 10 years jail rule if she is found guilty , "Howida" is currently in London

The elections of the Journalism syndication is on fire now , three candidates among them a governmental candidate Mr. "Makram Mohamed Ahmed" who used to be the head of the syndication in the past is gambling by his reputation and history , the journalists currently are fed up with the government and the regime ,I do not know how he dares to go now to the arena of the angry lions , Makram started acting those who are turned the famous staircase of the syndication in to a Hyde Park above of them "Mohamed Abd El-Quds" , there was a huge problem last night when there was a rumor saying that Makram called "Abd El-Quds" the idiot of the village , the thing which Makram totally denied , of course "Abd El-Quds" who is from famous journalistic historical family fired back politely ,many journalists felt so angry that the son of Ahasan Abd El-Quds and grandson of Rosa Al-Youssef would be insulted like this , Abd El-Quds is one of the defenders of freedom in Egypt and he is considered from the Islamist members in Kafya

Makram by the way was a student of my grand father and my grand father respected him on a personal level , yet I expect in those hard times My grand dad would vote to the independent candidates

Third the sad news:

Last week the court ruled against the head of the Wafad party "Mahmoud Abaza" and the CEO of their daily spokes newspaper of the party , the chief in editor of the newspaper "Wafad" Mr. Anwar El-Howary and the correspondent of the newspaper in "Asuit" one month in jail !!

Because a small news in the newspaper from last year , the other party is again from the NDP , this is the second jail against the newspaper and its journalists ,and the second against also "Anwar El-owary" . "Abaza" , the head of the party already is a PM and is also the brother of the minister of agriculture "Amin Abaza" , the rule against "Abaza" is a surprise to me because he is considered from the timid opposition

One of the things that made people have this nostalgia to the monarchy era is the Press Freedom , the King was afraid that press in Egypt would know about his mom's flings here and there , Ahsan was putting him under the fire in "Rosa" magazine , my grand dad was going to face jail from his coverage of the fight in Suez 1951 and his continuous attack on Fouad Sarg El-Din yet he was not jail because Sarg El-Din was faced by a huge attack from all the parties and all the people that saved my grand father and the press Freedom then

and the saga continues