Cornelis Hulsman, Sept. 17. Foreign Policy, The New York Times, Daily News Egypt and al-Bawaba news all report about the ban on reporting on the killings of Mexican tourists in Egypt’s Western desert. There is growing public anger against the absence of transparency and increased media gags.

The concept of media gag is based on preventing conflicting media reports and public opinion from interfering with a case’ investigations, also to guarantee objectivity and fairness. Prosecution authorities are in turn supposed to release updated information. [http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2015/09/17/egypt-enforces-media-gag-on-mex...

There is good reason for this because reporting in Egyptian media is often emotional which can be very sensational as well. On the other hand there is a justified fear that this would hamper calls for transparency and freedom of expression. One Egyptian TV journalist told me yesterday that this reveals problems within the army. There was a policeman with the group of tourists which is standard procedure. There has obviously been no communication between the army and this policeman before the shooting took place. It also reveals a tendency to shoot before investigating who are there on the ground.

The Western desert close to the Libyan border is closely watched by the military since it is easy for people with good vehicles to cross the Libyan-Egyptian border. There is great fear on the Egyptian side for extremists crossing the border from Libya. The Egyptian sensitivity is justified but that still does not justify shooting before investigation.

According to Foreign Policy the gag order applies to “local and international news organizations, as well as to content printed, posted online, or aired on TV or radio.” I am based in Egypt and have not noticed this. The Al-Ahram Weekly yesterday wrote a lengthy comment on the incident. Foreign media based in Egypt did not receive a request not to report on this issue. The ban on reporting thus seems to apply only to Egyptian Arabic media.

Sherif Mansour, coordinator of the Middle East and North Africa program for the Committee to Protect Journalists, told Foreign Policy that the al-Sisi administration is deeply sensitive to “reporting that addresses terrorism and national security issues,” Mansour says that today more than 20 journalists are behind bars and since al-Sisi became president “a lot of independent and critical journalists were forced into exile, and many are now in Turkey, New York, and Qatar.“ Both in Turkey and Qatar there are large groups of Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood members and it is well possible that many of the journalists Mansour refers to are members of the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization that refuses to acknowledge the deposal of president Morsi, the election of president al-Sisi and that has been involved in militant acts against the state of Egypt.

The gag only adds to the negative image Egypt already has in the area of freedom of expression. Public anger about the accidental attack on the Mexican tourists and the gag is substantial because it is a new set-back to efforts to recover Egypt’s tourism. We were working with Dutch Tour Operator Makor Reizen on a Holy Family tour to Egypt that had been planned in February 2016. Since acquisition is impossible after such an attack the Tour Operator decided to postpone this to autumn 2016.

This is sad for a country that has no many great tourism sites and that needs the income from tourism for its faltering economy.