Egypt: Satellite TV License Freeze Imposed By Military Rulers

CAIRO — Egypt's military rulers have frozen new licenses for private satellite TV stations and are taking steps against broadcasters they say are inciting violence, restrictions activists say harken to the crackdown on freedom of expression under ousted President Hosni Mubarak.

Mubarak's consecutive governments had sent journalists to jail for reporting on the president's health and other sensitive issues, and managed a web of security agents who meddled in news rooms. During the protests that ousted Mubarak, authorities banned broadcasts by the Arabic and English language channels of the pan-Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera and revoked the press credentials of all of its journalists.

Communication Minister Osama Heikal told reporters late Wednesday the satellite licensing decision stems from concerns about violence being incited and about what he called an increasingly chaotic media scene. He said the freeze was temporary, but didn't say when it would end, and did not say how many pending requests were affected.

Heikal also said he had designated authorities to take legal measures against satellite stations that incite sedition and violence. He did not name any stations or said what penalties might be imposed.

Also this week, Egypt's prosecutor general office said it has officially informed media outlets of the court order banning any reporting or publishing of the testimony of Egypt's military ruler and four other senior current and former officials during hearings next in the trial of Mubarak. The 83-year-old Mubarak is on trial on charges of complicity in the deaths of protesters, a charge that could bring a death penalty. Violating the ban on reporting on the trial is punishable by up to three years in prison, lawyers said.

The moves come as the military rulers face rising accusations that they are moving too slowly toward democracy. Activists have called a rally critical of the military council for Friday, the first in a month, and dubbed it "Correcting the course."

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces took charge after Mubarak stepped down in February, promising to hold elections and hand over power to civilians within six months.

But seven months later, the military council has yet to announce a specific date for elections; has passed a complicated election law which many say would preserve the power of Mubarak allies in the new parliament; and has interrogated and detained its critics, while trying thousands of civilians before military courts.

Reporters Without Borders in a statement Thursday also said bloggers in today's Egypt face restrictions reminiscent of the repression that prevailed before Mubarak's overthrow. The rights group was drawing attention to the case of Maikel Nabil, sentenced in April to three years in prison for blog entries accusing military rulers of being too close to Mubarak.

The 26-year-old, who has been on hunger strike for 17 days, was transferred on Sept. 1 to a prison infirmary after suffering serious heart problems, according to Reporters Without Borders.

Human rights lawyer Gamal Eid says the satellite station decisions announced Wednesday allow the military council to illegally limit criticism in the media in the run-up to parliamentary elections, now expected in November.

"It is no different than decisions taken by Mubarak," Eid said.

Eid questioned Heikal's plans to take legal measures against stations accused of inciting sedition.

"What does sedition mean? Is it religious, or is basically any form of criticism considered seditious?" said Eid. "My assessment is this is related to rising voices of criticism against the military council's management."

Despite Mubarak-era attempts to muzzle expression, Egypt had a vibrant media scene that grew increasingly critical of Mubarak and his policies in the months before the longtime leader was forced to step down in the wake of widespread popular protests.

Following the uprising, new private papers and satellite stations have mushroomed, many of which were founded by government critics and protest supporters. Many old regime figures also started in new TV stations, as have Islamist groups, which were tightly regulated by the Mubarak regime.

Eid said at least eight new satellite stations have already been registered and 11 were awaiting licensing.

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Associated Press writer Aya Batrawy in Cairo contributed to this report.

Comments

[fairwayhill]

05:41 PM on 09/08/2011

So caIled "lsraeI" is stoIen Palestine.

[cdncommentator]

02:45 PM on 09/08/2011

How are these new leaders of Egypt supposed to know what democracy and civil society look like when they've never seen or experienced it?

At least the youth are plugged into the rest of the world through social media.

The old men? Not so much.

[ca va pas non]

10:23 PM on 09/08/2011

These military rulers, the puppets of the US and trained probably by the Israelis didn't they watch the the only democracy in the region to see how they do it ? These old men have been instructed to follow the rules, far from the democracy that we are hoping.

[cdncommentator]

10:36 PM on 09/08/2011

Your comment is just nonsense. Israel never trained any Egyptian soliders. In fact, up until the terrorism in the Sinai, Israel and Egypt agreed that the Sinai would be demilitarized.

Egypt is not a puppet of the US. It has interests. The US has interests, and like the real world and every other country, sometimes those interest meets, sometimes there are trade-offs, and sometimes...not.

By the way, the US and Israel are in fact democracies.

These old men haven't been instructed to do anything. They've been in power in Egypt since the overthrow of the monarchy. They have their fingers in business and capital and form an elite in the country (much like the Republican Guard in Iran, or indeed, the military in every middle eastern country). They're not likely to give up all their privileges unless their lives were in danger.

Don't blame the US or Israel. They have nothing to do with it. They didn't create the Arab Spring and they haven't prevented or influenced it. This is all Egypt. And like Egypt, it's going to be messy, violent, passionate, and the interests of the little people will most likely be trampled on, at least in the short term.