With the massive anti-government protests that earlier rocked countries such as Algeria, Lebanon, and Iraq having fizzled out, governments in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are now responding to the COVID-19 pandemic not only by combatting the health consequences, but also by further limiting individual freedoms.  Governments have been cracking down especially on journalists and others reporting on and providing information about the spread of the new coronavirus.

Courtney Radsch, Advocacy Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an American watchdog organization, stated in a press release on March 26, there have been “instances of authorities using the crisis as an excuse to clamp down on the critical press.”

A number of countries have seen a rise in arrests of journalists and new laws criminalizing the dissemination of false information.

A number of countries have seen a rise in arrests of journalists reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic, and several countries have enacted new laws criminalizing the dissemination of false and misleading information.

Targeting of Journalists and Others

On March 17, the Egyptian State Information Service announced that it was revoking Guardian correspondent Ruth Michaelson’s credentials because of critical coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and her social media posts. Egyptian officials demanded both a retraction and an apology by The Guardian.

The Guardian maintained that the removing of Michaelson’s credentials and expelling her from Egypt was in retaliation for a report she wrote on March 15 suggesting that the actual figures may be higher than the government’s official statistics regarding the pandemic.

The Egyptian authorities also threatened to expel reporters from The New York Times.

In Egypt, press freedom and other civil liberties have significantly deteriorated since the military coup in 2013.

In Egypt, press freedom and other civil liberties have significantly deteriorated since the military coup in 2013, which ousted the country’s first democratically elected President. Authorities arrested at least 21 people on charges of spreading “false rumors” and briefly detained family members of imprisoned journalist Alaa Abdelfattah who had called for his release amid the outbreak. Authorities also announced a mandatory two-week curfew, and violators will be subject to fines and imprisonment.

In Turkey, seven journalists were detained and questioned about their sources about the coronavirus, according to a local media monitoring group.

Jordan, even before it had recorded any deaths from the virus, limited the number of journalists allowed to report. It has also passed a law to screen all media before publication. Prime Minister Omar Razzaz, citing an emergency “defense law” that provides broad powers, said that the government will “deal firmly” with anyone who disseminates “rumors, fabrications and false news that sows panic.”

Morocco has detained and prosecuted at least 12 people for “spreading rumors” or disseminating “fake news” on social media.

Morocco has detained and prosecuted at least a dozen people for “spreading rumors” or disseminating “fake news” on social media.  One of those was a 48-year-old woman who had denied the existence of the coronavirus on her YouTube channel and urged fellow Moroccans to ignore the emergency measures.  Moroccan authorities arrested three people on March 30 in Essaouira on charges of disseminating false information about people being infected by COVID-19.

Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has stated that “Those spreading fake news will be pursued.”

Targeting of Print Press

In March, the governments of five countries in the MENA region issued decrees suspending printing and distribution of newspapers. While ostensibly done to mitigate the physical spread of the virus, the implications for press freedom are clear.

Authorities in Jordan announced on March 17, that they would halt the printing of paper newspapers, as they “contribute to the transmission of infection.”

Oman suspended the printing, distribution, and sale of all newspapers, magazines, and publications, as well as the sale and circulation of newspapers, magazines, and publications published outside the Sultanate.

Oman suspended the printing, distribution, and sale of all newspapers, magazines, and publications, as well as the sale and circulation of newspapers, magazines, and publications published outside the Sultanate.

On March 22, Morocco directed newspapers to suspend the printing and distribution of newspapers as one of its state of health emergency measures, but encouraged print outlets to use alternative methods to deliver the news.

On March 23, Yemen’s communication minister issued a decree published in local newspaper Al-Jand Post prohibiting the publication and circulation of print newspapers (both government and private) from March 25 to April 12 to limit the spread of COVID-19.

Iran followed suit on March 31.

On April 2, the Communications and Media Commission, Iraq’s media regulator, suspended Reuters’ license for three months and fined it 25 million Iraqi dinars ($21,000 USD) for a news report published the same day, which alleged that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country are much higher than official statistics, according to a statement from the regulator and news reports.

The question of newspaper censorship in the MENA region is both “new and kind of the same.”

Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s MENA Program Coordinator, said that the question of newspaper censorship in the MENA region is both “new and kind of the same.” Countries where governments have already censored on a wide scale have not changed that much, he said, while others have used the virus as a “chance to clamp down even more.”

Other Measures

Violence against reporters is also on the rise due to the virus. On March 15, Hamas-controlled security forces in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah assaulted Yasser Abu Athara, a camera operator for the online Kan’an News Agency. According to his employer and two regional press freedom organizations, MADA and the Skeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom, Abu Athara was covering a protest against local authorities’ decision to turn two schools into quarantine centers for people infected with COVID-19. He was using his cell phone to interview protesters and take footage of the demonstration when police officers brutally intervened, beat him, and seized his phone, even though he identified himself as a journalist.

 Israel’s internal security agency has been authorized to track Israeli citizens or journalists, using data obtained from cellphones.

Other countries are using more insidious methods that implicate press freedom. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has authorized Israel’s internal security agency to track Israeli citizens or journalists, using a secret cache of data obtained from cellphones originally for use in counterterrorism, who defy isolation orders, an offence punishable by up to six months in prison.

Ramifications for Combatting COVID-19

United Nations Special Rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights, Fionnuala Ni Aolain, has warned that there could be “a parallel epidemic of authoritarian and repressive measures” following the coronavirus health pandemic.

While crackdowns are not only problematic as a matter of press freedom, freedom of speech, and civil rights, they also hamper the ability of countries to combat spread of COVID-19 effectively.

Crackdowns also hamper the ability of countries to combat spread of COVID-19 effectively .

The World Health Organization has cast doubt on the data being released by governments in the MENA region. The organization’s Director-General has urged countries to “Test, test, test,” as the way to prevent infections and save lives.

“You cannot fight a fire blindfolded. And we cannot stop this pandemic if we don’t know who is infected,” he said on March 16.

Yet, insufficient testing in most MENA countries, and indeed in a number of countries in the West including the US, has meant that the extent of infection is often higher than the official tallies.

But autocrats don’t like higher numbers. So the first victim of the coronavirus pandemic has been the truth, according to the CPJ. During a pandemic, however, is when the need for accurate information is greater than ever, especially in a region where there is already a high level of distrust of government.

“We need to make sure that governments allow reporters to do their work safely and without fear of reprisal during this public health crisis.”

CPJ Director Radsch is calling for government accountability. “Every journalist is a coronavirus journalist, and we need to make sure that governments allow reporters to do their work safely and without fear of reprisal during this public health crisis.”

While holding leaders of Western democracies to account is at least potentially possible, the same cannot be said of most MENA governments.

In the meantime, as Radsch notes, “Coronavirus is an unprecedented threat, and journalists are out there risking their safety to bring us information and help us grapple with the fast paced developments of the pandemic.”

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