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Eissa pardon is no victory for press freedom

willwardwillward@gmail.com / 3 Comments / Middle East

One of my first memories from moving to Cairo in August of last year was hearing the rumors swirling that Hosni Mubarak had died or was seriously ill, which were subsequently discussed in the local independent press. Ash-Shakkak has the English translation of the offending article from ad-Dostour, but here’s a taste:

The president in Egypt is a god and gods don’t get sick. Thus, President Mubarak, those surrounding him, and the hypocrites hide his illness and leave the country prey to rumors. It is not a serious illness. It’s just old age. But the Egyptian people are entitled to know if the president is down with something as minor as the flu.

In retaliation, several paper editors were sued by nominally private individuals, who accused them of causing capital flight and undermining the symbols [i.e. the president] of the state. This resulted in a year-long legal drama that ended yesterday, when Mubarak gave ad-Dostour’s editor, Ibrahim Eissa, a presidential pardon, forgiving the two month sentence finally issued by the appeals court.

The way I see it, the pardon is neither a government climbdown on press freedom nor a reaction to pressure – although there was more of that in Eissa’s case than others. Rather, the state wins and independent press loses regardless of whether he spends his two months in jail.

The point was not so much that a critic be punished, but that the red line around discussion of Mubarak’s health be touched up. This had already been made abundantly clear over the twelve-month long highly public trial and appeals process, and having a prominent journalist sitting in jail penning witty columns would only invite further scrutiny and pressure.

In fact, the government may have achieved, or thought it was achieving, a PR victory through the pardon, which I first heard about from a ‘breaking news’ text message sent by the state news agency (the subscription to these costs about 1/5 the price of the al-Jazeera ones).

For every “plucky and indefatigable” Eissa, there are many more journalists or activists who aren’t as witty, connected, or lucky who don’t get attention, and more articles not written and things not said.

This can’t be bad for Ad-Dustour’s sales though. I had to go to four different newsstands this morning to find one that hadn’t sold out.

Egypt

This is getting ridiculous

willwardwillward@gmail.com / Egypt

From Reuters:

Egypt postpones fixed-line licence auction

CAIRO, Sept 8 (Reuters) – Egypt’s telecom regulator said on Monday it had decided to postpone an auction for a second fixed-line licence for a year, citing global market woes.

“The National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA) … has decided to postpone the auction for the second fixed-line network, which was announced earlier this year, for a year, with a re-examination of offering it again to take place next year,” an NTRA statement said.

It said the NTRA had made the decision after consulting the companies that had expressed interest in bidding for the licence.

This must be the fourth time they’ve delayed the auction this year.

Egypt

First day at AUC new campus

willwardwillward@gmail.com / 2 Comments / Egypt

I’m back in Egypt and have a ton of work in front of me, which means Friday in Cairo is back in action!

Yesterday was my first trip out to AUC’s new campus in New Cairo, from Tahrir, a 51 minute shot straight out into the desert. The new campus looks very good, especially compared to the hideous new developments you pass on the drive out. Yes I’m talking about you Gamayyat el-Mustaqbal (pictured below)

I didn’t take any of the staff tours during the construction phase, so was among the slackjaws wandering around trying to make sense of the place and figure out where to go. The buildings are not well marked, so you have to navigate by food franchises: cilantro coffee shops on the north and south poles and cinnabon somewhere near the equator.

Another gripe: There is virtually no shade on campus. Gone is the friendly layer of pollution that protects my fair skin in central Cairo. Parasols seem to be making a comeback, but styles change fast, so AUC should take a cue from the Chinese and consider cloud seeding.

The main hassle is transportation. They have a labyrinth of bus routes all around the city, and expect everyone who uses the system to fill out a schedule of when they plan to ride the bus each day. They must not have enough spare capacity to have extra seats at peak times, but on both of my rides yesterday the busses were about half full.

I was heartened to see the 300 yard-long parking lot that drivers had improvised on the road leading to campus to avoid coughing up the 3000 LE that AUC charges for a parking permit.

Many people have expressed concern that the move would eliminate service jobs that had sprung up to accommodate students. I saw two things yesterday that made me doubt this:

First, day one of classes, informal parking attendants were already manning the improvised lot outside. Secondly, there were also rumblings yesterday on the Cairo Scholars listserv about employing a private, more flexible, minibus system as an alternative to AUC’s lumbering behemoth.