At least 10 journalists have been killed in the line of duty since 2011, including six since the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi last year. These numbers are all the more shocking given that only one journalist was killed in Egypt in the two decades before 2011.
There has been a similarly alarming escalation in the number of imprisoned journalists in Egypt. Only two years ago, no journalists were in prison in your country. Now, with at least 16 journalists held behind bars in relation to their work, Egypt ranks among the five worst jailers of journalists. Many of the jailed journalists languish without charge or any expectation of due process.
Covering ongoing protests and clashes in the streets of Egypt has proven especially dangerous for both local and international journalists, who have been assaulted by security forces and protesters alike. Often, the journalists are directly targeted andaccused of being spies or foreign agents.
This drastic decline in press freedom in Egypt was not inevitable and can be reversed.