The French ship Dignité Al Karama was the only ship in the flotilla that managed to approach Gaza. The paper reported that flotilla activists welcomed the paper's initiative to sail from Egypt. The flotilla's ships were stalled in Greece after Greek authorities refused to let them sail. In July, 2011, Al Masry Al Youm publicized its initiative to host the Freedom Flotilla 2 in Egypt and to have the flotilla's ships sail for Gaza from an Egyptian port. The same year the paper sold 250,000 copies. In 2012, the paper's online version was the 26th most-visited website in Egypt based on the Alexa data. Further, it harnessed the energy of young journalists, giving them incentives to produce good work. It has successfully responded to the Egyptian media market as a whole and not a single political party, like many Egyptian opposition papers, and was unafraid to take on hard-hitting topics, like governmental news outlets. As of 2009 it was regarded as the most influential newspaper in Egypt. After 3 three years, it was challenging Al-Ahram for the status of being the national paper of record. The 2005 circulation of the daily was 50,000 copies. It has been said that the paper's launch "helped inaugurate a new opening for independent media in Egypt.". It initially circulated primarily amongst Cairo's intellectual elite, providing objective news coverage in the belief that good news would beat sensationalist reporting found in other Egyptian print media. Until Mohamed Salmawi served as editor-in-chief of the daily when Ali Al Sayed was appointed to the post. Magdi El Galad is one of the former editors-in-chief of the paper. The publisher of the daily is Al-Masry Al-Youm for Journalism and Publication. In 2004, its establishment was finalized, and on 7 June 2004, it published its first edition. Hisham Kassem is also a founder of Al Masry Al Youm. And his family is struggling to pay for his costly medical bills.The newspaper was founded in late 2002 by Salah Diab, an Egyptian businessman whose grandfather (Tawfik Diab) was one of Egypt's most renowned publishers in the 1930s and 1940s. He tried to light himself on fire, giving himself third degree burns all over his body. Though he and other defendants were eventually acquitted, the social stigma remained. While it's unclear yet how this legal precedent will affect foreigners, the crackdown is already deeply affecting the lives of everyday Egyptians.Ī man recently accused of “debauchery” tried to kill himself. In a recent case, a person found guilty was given 12 years in jail. But now the sentences are longer and they are tending to stick, when once they were routinely overturned on appeal. The community faced persecution under the long-serving former President Hosni Mubarak. In Egypt there is precedent for targeting political activists by calling into question their sexual orientation. “Will this be used for foreigners to punish them for their political inclination or activities?” Abdel Hameed asked after the ruling. Lawyers who work on LGBT cases suggest the government is targeting the already vulnerable community to distract from the stagnating economy and unstable political situation. Similarly, “violating public morality” is another vague charge that can cover a wide range of "offenses" that are not specifically criminalized. While homosexuality as such is not illegal under the law, since November 2013, about 150 people have been arrested on charges related to “debauchery” - a vague term that has been used to target men who have sex with men. It comes amid the harshest crackdown on Egypt’s LGBT community in years. While disturbing, the decision it not all that surprising. “There are articles in the law which allow the Ministry of the Interior either to deport or prevent foreigners from entering the country if they are doing something ‘against public morality.’” “We’re not sure if this ruling will be used as a legal precedent to deport or prevent foreigners from entering the country,” said Dalia Abd El-Hameed, gender and women’s rights officer with the Egyptian Institute for Personal Rights. It basically gave the government the right to ban “homosexual foreigners” from entering the country by upholding an earlier decision to ban a Libyan citizen from re-entering Egypt.The man had been arrested in October of 2008 on charges of engaging in “homosexual practices” and deported, according to el-Masri el-Youm newspaper. CAIRO, Egypt - An Egyptian court this week set a disturbing precedent.
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