Egyptian News Company Targeted

Egyptian authorities have targeted a news company associated with broadcasting information critical of the government, Human Rights Watch said Friday.

The state-run Radio and Television Union brought a complaint against the Cairo News Company April 8, the day after Arab network al-Jazeera broadcast coverage of large anti-government street protests in the Nile Delta.

CNC coverage of the Mahalla al-Kobra protests included footage of protesters tearing down and defacing a large poster of President Hosni Mubarak.

The Cairo News Company provides satellite transmission services to television networks in Egypt, including al-Jazeera, BBC and CNN.

Human Rights Watch said police raided CNC’s Cairo offices, confiscating its five sets of satellite transmission equipment and owner Nader Gohar has been charged with importing and owning television equipment and transmitting television broadcasts without permission.

Gohar goes on trial May 26. If convicted, he faces fines and at least one year in prison.

Egypt’s closure of CNC and its prosecution of Nader Gohar are just the latest episodes in the government’s campaign to stifle freedom of the press, said Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch.