How much oversight do government censors generally have over Egypts independent press?
AK: There are no major privately-owned newspaper print houses in Egypt. Therefore, almost all opposition and independent broadsheets must be printed by state-run print houses, which gives official security agencies a chance to closely monitor them. If government censors don’t like what they see, they can pressure the publisher to remove the offensive content. This is what happened to my three articles. IPS: What is the current state of Egypt’s independent press in terms of journalistic freedom? What ‘red lines’ still hamper journalists? AK: Just as the state has succeeded in containing Egypt’s political opposition parties, it has also succeeded in containing the opposition press. We used to say that Egypt had an effective opposition press even if there weren’t any effective opposition parties. But since 2000, when Egypt’s Socialist Labour Party was closed down – along with its newspaper, Al-Shaab – there has not been any genuine opposition journalism. Opposition writers have been force
