Cairo: Less than two weeks after Egypt closed down a privately owned TV station, allegedly for financial problems, the new publisher of Al Destour, one of Egypt's most popular independent newspapers, has sacked its chief editor Ibrahim Eissa, an outspoken critic of President Hosni Mubarak.
The decision to axe Eissa, who has been the editor of the newspaper since it was first published in 1995, came two months after Destour was sold to Al Sayed Al Badawi, a business tycoon and the chief of the opposition Al Wafd Party, in a deal reported to be worth LE20 million (Dh13 million).
Al Badawi has given no reason for sacking Eissa, who in 2008 was sentenced to two months in jail for allegedly publishing rumours about Mubarak's health. But Mubarak, who’s been in power for almost 30 years now, pardoned Eissa at the time.
Neither Al Badawi nor Eissa were available for comment, but sources at the paper say the move reflects the new publisher's dissatisfaction with its editorial policy. “Eissa is known for allowing the (banned) Muslim Brotherhood to express their views on the pages of Al Destour. This did not appeal to the new board," a source, told Gulf News. “The staff of the newspaper have been on strike since Monday night in protest against the sacking decision.”
A show hosted by Eissa on O TV, a channel owned by the business mogul Najuib Sawiris, was also axed three weeks ago.
What’s more, the action against Eissa has come days after the Egyptian authorities closed down the pay-TV Orbit, which used to air the popular talk show ‘Cairo Today’. Officials in the governmental Media City, where the Saudi-owned Orbit transmitted its programmes, say the closure was due to the failure of the channel to comply with its legal and financial commitments.
They added that Orbit had defaulted on paying more than LE5 million in debts to Media City.
Critics of the government, however, claim that Orbit was closed for its vociferous criticism of Mubarak's government, ahead of crucial parliamentary and presidential elections.
"The closure of Orbit violates all agreements signed by Egypt to espouse freedom of expression," said the Centre of the Right to Democracy and Human Rights, a non-governmental organisation. "The board of Media City had planned to shut down the channel in order to get rid of the headache caused by the widely popular show 'Cairo Today'. The proof is that the Media City board refused to receive cheques for the debts, allegedly because the deadline set for this was over," added the centre in a statement, a copy of which was obtained by Gulf News.
"These are serious developments, which expose the government's, and its supporters', intention to muzzle the media, ahead of next month's parliamentary elections," Esaam Hamad, a political analyst, told this newspaper. "The situation is increasingly unclear as signs are growing that Mubarak is grooming his influential son Jamal to succeed him." Mubarak, 82, has yet to say if he will seek a sixth term next year. However, he has repeatedly denied plans for hereditary succession in Egypt.
