The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) has condemned officials from Al-Ahram Press for their refusal to print the latest edition of the opposition weekly Sout al-Ummah, until its editor, Abdel Halim Kandil, had removed his article criticising Egypt President Hosni Mubarak and the country's stance on the crisis in Gaza.
Sout al-Ummmah was finally published on January 5 after the article was removed.
ANHRI warned that security monitoring has become a common practice at Al-Ahram Press. On previous occasions, the Al-Badeel newspaper was censored and, as a result, turned to the Al-Gomhoria printing house as an alternative.
Security personnel that illegally monitor the press objected to an article by Kandil, titled 'Those Who Brought Egypt Disgrace'. Al-Ahram Press, a mouthpiece for the Egyptian government, prints 75 per cent of Egypt's newspapers on its premises.
Hamdy al-Assiouty, a consultant for ANHRI's legal support department for freedom of expression, said it was a tragedy that the Egyptian government stopped demonstrations in support of Gaza and censors newspapers' reactions to these events. He added that it is the right of a journalist to constructively criticise the government.
