Egypt: Government censors BBC and others over pictures of demonstrations

The Egyptian authorities have censored several media website, including BBC Arabic, for reporting news about the demonstrations that broke out on Friday evening in Cairo and several governorates against El-Sisi.

The websites of Al Hurra, ARIJ, and several other media outlets have also been blocked as part of a government campaign to mislead the public.

According to press and human rights observatories, more than 500 news and human rights websites have been censored in Egypt so far, without knowing the official bodies responsible for issuing those decisions and the rationale behind such a move.

Read:  Al Jazeera staff show solidarity with colleague detained for 1,000 days in Egypt

Egypt witnessed after the end of Al Ahly and Zamalek Super Cup match, yesterday evening, massive demonstrations, which were attended by tens of thousands of citizens, following a sizeable widespread interaction on social media platforms, as a response to a call to rise against the regime made by actor and businessman, Mohamed Ali. Thus, Ali revealed scandals and information regarding El-Sisi’s involvement in corruption along with his state apparatuses.

شرارة المظاهرات تتواصل لليوم الثاني على التوالي وتمتد إلى بورسعيد.. العشرات يخرجون إلى الشارع رفضا للسيسي ونظامه#ارحل_يا_سيسي #ميدان_التحرير #بيان_الجيش_فين pic.twitter.com/lVkHM1aJA8

— شبكة رصد (@RassdNewsN) September 21, 2019

The BBC reported the events in Egypt under the title Egyptians protest against Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, indicating that “these demonstrations came as a response to allegations linking El-Sisi’s government to corruption files.”

The Egyptian media (governmental and private) did not cover the protests.

Several pro-regime TV channels referred to the demonstrations as fictitious, while accusing newspapers and news websites of publishing misleading pictures and fabricated or old videos in what they described as a media campaign against El-Sisi and the army.