Freedom of Speech in Egypt
Last week, we have seen in the news the verdict for the Egyptian blogger to be sentenced for 4 years. One year for insulting the president, and three years for disdaining religions.
I know that there are a lot of Egyptians who are already talking about such things and criticising the government for several issues, but believe me if Egypt become Utopia, or heaven on earth, Egyptians will still criticise the government for ....... (we will come up with any reason to do so, and we are so good in it). The proof on such thing, that in Egyptian perception, every problem that happens in the country is because of the government, every problem that happens in the region is because of Israel, and every problem that happens in the world is because of either US or Jews (depending on which is easier to find a link to). It is one of our major problems in the country, passing the cause of our problems onto "others". Few years ago, there was a big case about importing expired Babies milk, when everybody accused the importers on being corrupted and spying for Israel, because they have known that it was expired, and they import it from a Jewish company, with an intention to spread diseases among Egyptian children. The link for such story was the increasing numbers of Children's cancer in Egypt!!
Another story was a little bit older (early nineties) when some agricultural deals with Israel were signed to exchange plants seeds between the two countries. One of the types of seeds were for cantaloupe, when people started accusing Israel for intending to spoil Egyptian fertile farms, mentioning that such seeds corrupt the soil after planting them for one time, and that farms cannot be farmed after then for 10 years!!
Back to last week's story. Every country has its own laws that may look stupid or weird for other countries, but this is how it goes. One of those points in the Egyptian law is "Disdaining religions" which is considered as a major crime. I mean by disdaining religions, insulting monotheistic religions (Islam, Christianity and Judaism), which is highly prohibited in Egypt were verdicts for such crime can reach life sentence!! Another point in the law is "deformation of people" and not only public characters, meaning that if you are my neighbor and I am nobody important in the society, and you insult me (for example in a magazine, newspaper, or even just telling me bad words), it is of my right to sue you, and then you will be paying a huge fine (depending on the harm).
BUT, insulting the president is a different crime, which its sentence can reach to 10 years!! And for your information, this point in law is similar to almost all countries, I mean it is there in countries like Netherlands and the UK (insulting the queen or the royal family), or Poland (insulting the president).
So, I still do not understand what is the reason behind that all international media and newspapers starting a fierce campaign against Egypt for the verdict against the blogger, while the guy should got sentenced to at least 20 years in the prison!! Just bear in mind that Egypt is a different country with its own LAWS!!
I know that there are a lot of Egyptians who are already talking about such things and criticising the government for several issues, but believe me if Egypt become Utopia, or heaven on earth, Egyptians will still criticise the government for ....... (we will come up with any reason to do so, and we are so good in it). The proof on such thing, that in Egyptian perception, every problem that happens in the country is because of the government, every problem that happens in the region is because of Israel, and every problem that happens in the world is because of either US or Jews (depending on which is easier to find a link to). It is one of our major problems in the country, passing the cause of our problems onto "others". Few years ago, there was a big case about importing expired Babies milk, when everybody accused the importers on being corrupted and spying for Israel, because they have known that it was expired, and they import it from a Jewish company, with an intention to spread diseases among Egyptian children. The link for such story was the increasing numbers of Children's cancer in Egypt!!
Another story was a little bit older (early nineties) when some agricultural deals with Israel were signed to exchange plants seeds between the two countries. One of the types of seeds were for cantaloupe, when people started accusing Israel for intending to spoil Egyptian fertile farms, mentioning that such seeds corrupt the soil after planting them for one time, and that farms cannot be farmed after then for 10 years!!
Back to last week's story. Every country has its own laws that may look stupid or weird for other countries, but this is how it goes. One of those points in the Egyptian law is "Disdaining religions" which is considered as a major crime. I mean by disdaining religions, insulting monotheistic religions (Islam, Christianity and Judaism), which is highly prohibited in Egypt were verdicts for such crime can reach life sentence!! Another point in the law is "deformation of people" and not only public characters, meaning that if you are my neighbor and I am nobody important in the society, and you insult me (for example in a magazine, newspaper, or even just telling me bad words), it is of my right to sue you, and then you will be paying a huge fine (depending on the harm).
BUT, insulting the president is a different crime, which its sentence can reach to 10 years!! And for your information, this point in law is similar to almost all countries, I mean it is there in countries like Netherlands and the UK (insulting the queen or the royal family), or Poland (insulting the president).
So, I still do not understand what is the reason behind that all international media and newspapers starting a fierce campaign against Egypt for the verdict against the blogger, while the guy should got sentenced to at least 20 years in the prison!! Just bear in mind that Egypt is a different country with its own LAWS!!