Post-Arab Spring Censorship on the Rise
More journalists, bloggers, musicians and other public figures are increasingly being summoned to court in an apparent crackdown on freedom of expression in Egypt and Tunisia. But they’re not going without a fight.
Egyptian TV satirist Bassem Youssef, who has been compared with United States news parody show host Jon Stewart, this past week had to answer to Egyptian prosecutors over charges of insulting Islam and President Morsi. Although an Egyptian administrative court threw out a lawsuit filed by a Muslim Brotherhood lawyer seeking to ban Youssef and his satirical political show, Youssef still faces other, similar charges.
Meanwhile in Tunisia, rapper Weld El 15 was recently sentenced in absentia to two years in prison for insulting the police. The two cases point to ongoing efforts by Islamist forces to use the courts to muzzle criticism of North African governments.
The fall of dictatorial regimes after the Arab Spring apparently hasn’t brought about any durable guarantees for freedom of expression. On the contrary, there seems to be an offensive against free speech in North Africa - yet this is being met with resistance, and the world is looking on.
