Closure of 14 local newspapers in Egypt continues

The Egyptian Ministry of the Interior said the closure of 14 local newspapers in the Egyptian capital was continuing according to the decision of Cairo's governor, Abd El-Rahim Shehata.

The decision issued on January 19 according to the instructions of the former governors' council under the chairmanship of Kamal El-Ganzouri in August concerning stopping issuing some local newspapers.

Many Egyptian human rights organizations expressed annoyance toward this procedure, which targets freedom of expression and opinion and democratic development, especially as the decision included political descriptions of the persons issuing some of these newspapers like El-Naseri, El-Wafdi and El-Shiouei.

The organizations expressed their astonishment that descriptions were issued by an administrative front that is supposed to be neutral.

All these newspapers were unlicensed, and this was the pretext according to which the closure decision was taken, although these newspapers have been issued for a long time.

The names of the newspapers included in administrative decision N 592 which calls for their closure:

Name of the News PaperThe issuance frontName of newspaperThe issuance Front 1. El-Giza New"Mohamed Abd El-Gawad" 8. El-Sayedat (ladies)The communist "Shokria Ayad" 2.Sound of July 'Naseri' Mohamed El-Deraini' 9. taxes news Mohamed El-Sayed 3.Heshoud'El-Naseri' Mohamed El- Deraini' 10. El-Nahar 'El-Wafdi 'Saber El-Banna' 4. July the 23rd 'El-Naseri' Mohamed El-Deraini 11. El-Beaa (the environmental Yasser Ramadan) 5. El- ReshrashEl-Naseri' Mohamed El-Deraini' 12. Ouon MisrMohamed El-Deeb' 6. El-Neaa (Women)'Esam Salman' 13. El-Madina El-HorahEl-Ahrar printing houses 'Fayez Kabadaya' 7. El-Mogtama El-Madani (the civil society) Saad El-Din Ibrahim 14. Hekouk El-Insan (the human rights' The Egyptian).