Saturday, February 9, 2013

Another Bad Day for Media in #Egypt : #YouTube , Offensive cartoon and TV hosts to investigation

Who could ever think for one second that media in Egypt will suffer like this after the revolution !? Well I admit I did not think even for one moment.
First we got the administrative court ruling to ban YouTube in Egypt for a whole month .
This is extremely
It is worth to mention that Google had already blocked the clip in both Egypt and Libya following the violent clashes that took place right after the release of that 13 minutes clip.  The administrative court judge's reasoning is that this one month ban decision was taken after the refusal of YouTube to remove the film totally from its servers.
The administrative court  judge does not understand that by banning the website in Egypt , the circulation of that offensive silly video will not stop worldwide for God sake !! Why does the judge ignore the fact that there are millions of videos defending Prophet Mohamed "PBUH" and Islam against those insults on the YouTube !? 
I am already wondering about why the administrative court chose this particular time since last September 2013
Again the film was promoted equally in Egypt by none other than the Islamist Channel Al Nas and yet it has not been closed yet.
It is extremely dangerous court ruling because it opens for wider online censorship.
Speaking about Religion and media censorship.
Al Masry Al Youm has officially apologized  for the daring cover of Assyasy Magazine "The Politician magazine" latest issue.
Here is the daring cover which is the product of famous revolutionary cartoonist Ahmed Nady.
The controversial cover by Ahmed Nady
The cover shows those who signed Al Azhar document to denounce violence completely naked and in their hands wine glasses and in the back Mohamed Morsi tells a strong and enormous CSF officer to act as he wants as there is no more political cover for the protesters

 Many activists criticized the political activists and parties participated in the document accusing them of dumping the protesters alone facing the police violence.
This is the first time the Sheikh of Al Azhar and the Church representative are  being shown naked like that.
According to Ahmed Nady , the cartoonist he got a tip that Al Masry Al Youm administration has decided to pull the issue from the market after it got an objection from the Church on how a church man would appear like that in a cartoon on cover of a magazine.
Already this was the last printed issue of the magazine issued by Al Masry Al Youm.I do not know if Al Masry Al Youm is going to print another issue.
I believe this is one of the best magazine covers in Egypt from many many years ago. It broke many taboos yet unfortunately it seems that administration of Al Masry Al Youm does not want to break any taboos anymore.
Now moving to investigations and interrogations with journalists and TV hosts. TV hosts Dina Abdel Fatah and Wael Al Abrashi will be interrogate at the public prosecution office as they are accused of promoting Black Bloc culture in Egypt !! Wael Al Abrashi claimed that he spoke to Black Bloc members on Dream TV2 while Dina Abdel Fatah hosted alleged Black Bloc Members in her show on Tahrir TV. Of course the alleged and self proclaimed Black Bloc Facebook pages and twitter accounts denied that these were members in the Black Block.
To be honest I know that both of them did not host for real Black Bloc members but to be accused of promoting Black Bloc in Egypt !! For God sake what kind of charge this is !?
It is not the first time actually TV hosts and prominent figures are being dragged to investigations because of what they say on air.
From couple of weeks we found out that Alaa Abdel Fatah was summoned to the Supreme court to be interrogated for a case he knew nothing about !! At the Supreme court he found out that he is being accused of insulting judiciary !! Alaa refused the interrogation and instead he accused SCAF and Morsi of insulting the judiciary with their actions and decrees.
It is an irony considering the fact that Alaa Abdel Fatah was detained for 45 days in 2006 for protesting in solidarity with the reformists judges like Mekki brothers , El Khodiary and El Gheriany in the famous battle of judiciary independence.I can not keep noticing that Abdel Fatah is being summoned after his live TV confrontation with minister of justice Ahmed Mekki last Saturday during the Ultras trial on CBC channel's morning show.
Mekki was provoking and shocked the viewers with his what he had said then. Sometimes I believe that age is playing factor here.Now Alaa is not the only one to summoned to be investigated for the insult of judiciary. Former MP Mostafa Al Naggar was summoned to appear in front of the magistrate for the same charge : Insulting judiciary !!!
I do not know how Al Naggar can be accused of insulting judiciary considering how polite he is , in fact I do not remember that he criticized judiciary or any judge rudely. I remember that he once criticized former Public prosecutor Abdel Magid Mahmoud when he was a MP in the parliament only !!
I do not think that the current judges are angry for Mahmoud after more than 6 months !!
Now it turns out that Abdel Fatah and Al Naggar are not the only figures in Egypt accused of insulting judiciary and are being interrogated by a magistrate appointed by  the ministry of justice , there is a long list of TV hosts and journalists like Mahmoud Saad , Lamis El Hadidy and Mona Shazly as well their producers. These TV hosts are accused of letting their guests insult the judges and judiciary in Egypt !!
Now a tip I got from a dear friend that the judges who reported that long list to the ministry of justice are the Muslim brotherhood's Judges for Egypt group !!!
You have to know that the number of "Insulting the president" lawsuits in time of Morsi's rule "6 months"  exceeded all the lawsuits filed isnce 1892 when that stupid charged entered our legal system !!
I have got nothing to say more.
This is not the Egypt we want.

16 comments:

  1. Egyptians are obviously too immature to handle freedom of expression, based on the fact they go into homicidal rages whenever anyone says something they don't like. Not just youtube, but the whole internet should be blocked, until Egyptians can prove they can act like grownups.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is a stupid and fascist decision and i can assure you if Morsi can block access to youtube because a not very well made video that insults the founder of Islam then what would be next but it seems that the judge was unaware that if he would have taken the time he would have found that there are videos by Shia Muslims that describe Omar Ibn al-Khatab as a sodomite and Aisha cheating on Muhammad and breast feeding the youth of Quriash oh and even worse videos that make fun of Morsi as in the one when he was meeting with the prime minster of Australia and on top of this any computer literate person will be able to find a way to check youtube even if blocked
    No one says that you have to watch that video and this is what being free is all about and it is about not being told what to watch and not watch
    But again the fasicsm of el-ikhwan and thier wish to control what Egyptians can and cannot see start with blocking porn sites then this badly made video is next and who knows what will be next

    ReplyDelete
  3. Was the Ahmed Nady pixilated as in your picture? I looked for the image online but I can't find it.

    Small typo: You mean "since last September 2012" not "2013".

    ReplyDelete
  4. If a magazine cover like that ran in the US, the publishers would be sued for defamation of character through libel. You can't portray people naked like that and expect there to be no response. The standard in Egypt nowadays is just to say that if something is blocked or banned it's a violation of freedom of speech. But this is an abuse of that freedom. The part with Morsi and the officer is fine, but depicting people naked is eligible for those involved to be sued. Quite frankly, the fact that you consider this one of the best magazine covers in a while shocks me. It shows no creativity and is just a cheap attempt at drawing people's attention. For examples of what great political cartoon look like, I suggest KAL's cartoons from the Economist. http://www.economist.com/search/apachesolr_search/KAL%27s%20cartoon

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're wrong.

      Delete
    2. Completely agree with first and last posts here till now.

      Egyptians are very immature and have a long road ahead to both political and social maturity.
      I agree with you that it is shocking BUT not surprising that Zeinobia found this cover one of the best. This shows how politically immature she is and does not understand that in the UK or US etc this cartoon would be the subject of many lawsuits against the cartoonist and the magazine itself. You cannot libel a person in such a way and expect to walk off scot free. No if I were one of the ones in that cartoon I would be dragging the ones responsible by their asses through the courts.
      Zeinobia you really need to research a bit before supporting libelous and slanderous items.
      No it is not okay to humiliate public figures on the front of magazines in this way and the fact that you support it speaks volumes about the current immaturity of the bloggers and activists in opposition.
      Egyptians have a long hard road to travel to maturity both socially and politically.
      Seems that every Egyptian is now a Professor of Politics.
      Just like in everything there are too many supervisors and advisors when really in another country only one plumber is required to fix the leaking pipe, not 10 men all round him giving instructions and being 'Boss'. Maybe it's a class thing. No one wants to be the worker. They all have an insatiable need to be right and be the manager or boss and why the country is in collapse because there are very few productive workers and too many managers sitting drinking coffee who know nothing of the job needing done.

      Delete
    3. Dear anonymous, in the US that cover might be a problem but i doubt so in europe. We all know the immense amount of prudity in the US where even small kids like 2 years running around naked on the beach cause a major trouble. Coming back to the magazines cover, it is in deed provocative and that in what cartoons should be. And of course the persons on it might not be happy about it but from my point of view they have to live with it. Applying US standards is of course possible but just keep in mind that other countries see things differently. The US is not exactly the moral center of the world anymore. And that for a reason.

      Delete
  5. You clearly have no conception of what is acceptable in the West.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Clearly you have no idea about what is acceptable and what is libelous in the West.

      Prince Williams wife Kate not so many months ago managed in court to stop print of her holiday photos of her topless in one of the most liberal of countries FRANCE!

      They have the laws. It's just whether they choose to use them and take perps to court or not but the laws are there just the same.

      Delete
    2. Publication of various types of parody often involves litigation over libel, slander, and other types of Defamation.
      Cartoon are parody and if they cause offence can be sued through the courts in the West.

      Defamation: Any intentional false communication, either written or spoken, that harms a person's reputation; decreases the respect, regard, or confidence in which a person is held; or induces disparaging, hostile, or disagreeable opinions or feelings against a person.

      Defamation may be a criminal or civil charge. It encompasses both written statements, known as libel, and spoken statements, called slander.

      All those in that cartoon have the right to sue the magazine.

      Delete
    3. The fellow commentators here above are incorrect. It is a difference to show pictures of nude people who have been taken against the pictured persons will and to have a cartoon drawing of naked people. It is pretty obvious to everybody that the bodies of the pictured people do not really look like that (beside the faces). So I think their possibility to file a lawsuit in Europe would be there of course but the suit would not be successfull.

      Delete
  6. I think its time for a fatwa against cartoons.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I think you should check the New Yorker cartoon cover portfolio before speaking about freedom of expression in US and West

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous: This cartoon might be open for legal charges in the UK, but not in the US. UK & US laws differ in this respect. Zeinobia is correct in referring you to the New Yorker cover portfolio, particularly the politically oriented ones, as some of them might be considered quite insulting.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The cover Zeinobia refers to (a) is satirical, (b) concerns public figures and, (c) is political commentary. In the United States it would have complete protection under the law, and in the rest of the civilized world it would have complete protection as a matter of custom if not constitution.

    I still would like to know if the cover itself was pixellated.

    ReplyDelete
  10. excellent one, what could be missing is a boat and oar on morsi's face.

    ReplyDelete

Thank You for your comment
Please keep it civilized here, racist and hateful comments are not accepted
The Comments in this blog with exclusion of the blog's owner does not represent the views of the blog's owner.