Biz-Community (Cape Town)
25 February 2008
Cape Town — On 19 February 2008, the Egyptian government placed a ban on four foreign newspapers that reprinted some of the cartoons that were published by 17 Danish newspapers on 13 February in a show of solidarity on the issue of freedom of expression.
The four newspapers whose issues were banned were Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Die Welt, the London-based Observer and the New York-based Wall Street Journal. The ban was issued by information minister Anas Al-Feki, who told the Egyptian news agency MENA: "Any newspaper or magazine that publishes something offensive towards the Prophet ... or the three monotheistic religions will be banned."
Article 20 of Egypt's press law allows the information minister to ban reports liable to harm national interest.
Press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders said, "Banning the distribution of newspapers that reproduced the Mohammed cartoons only strengthens those who have taken the most radical positions on this subject.
"We urge the Egyptian government to reverse this decision and to let civil society decide for itself whether the content of these newspapers was defamatory."
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