Freedom of the Press in Egypt: Checks and Balances Nathalie Bernard-Maugiron * * Senior researcher at the Centre d'Etudes et de Documentation économique, juridique et sociale (CEDEJ, Cairo). On 20 May 2000, the Egyptian opposition paper El Shaab was shut down following the freezing of the activities of the Labour Party due to internal turmoil. In May 1995, a new press law nicknamed by its opponents "law on the assassination of the press (qanun vnacthbahat al sahafa)" was adopted by Parliament without prior debate. It severely limited freedom of the press by amending the Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Press Union Law. Following a protest campaign unleashed by the Press Syndicate, the law was finally amended a year later by the 1996 Law on the Organization of the Press. On 14 August 1999, three journalists were sentenced to two years' imprisonment for having libelled a minister. Although freedom of the press is guaranteed by the Egyptian Constitution, and although many newspapers are issued and granted a great deal of indepen- dence, the government during the last few years seems to have tried to tighten the screw. It cannot be denied that the press under Hosni Mubarak operates more freely than before. Government controls over the press have been relaxed and restrictions on anti-government expression eased. A greater respect has been shown for the rule of law: journalists are not put into prison without trial and newspapers are not banned without a court ruling. When personally attacked in the press, public officials take legal action in the courts or respond in the press to defend themselves. Control on the press is, however, maintained by legal means: the conditions for obtaining a publishing licence may be almost impossible to fulfil; the licence may be withdrawn and journalists may be condemned to harsh penalties and jailed for press offences. More subtle extra-legal means of pressure also exist, such as denying a certain category of journalists access to information.