Press advocacy group says Egypt’s media ‘methodically persecuted’

Morsi has attacked the press four times more than during Mubarak era An Egyptian advocacy group for press independence has criticised authorities for “terrorising and intimidating” journalists and broadcasters, in a bold statement released on Sunday .The group accused the government and security forces of attacking journalists without “legally supported reasons,” whilst “tailoring charges” against them. Attacks represented a form of “methodical persecution” against a free press, the group claimed.
The committee meanwhile denounced “all forms of violence” amid violent clashes surrounding the Ittihadiya presidential palace over the weekend.
Group leader, Bashir al-Adl also criticised the country's Shura Council for its performance in recent months, describing the relationship between politicians and members of the public as “very much like that between a Pharaoh and the ancient Egyptians.”
Al-Adl also claimed the high frequency of complaints by President Mohammed Morsi’s government against journalists “testify to the ruling power’s weakness.”
Others have claimed the controversy surrounding the loose group of anti-government activists, the Black Bloc, have triggered a campaign of “random arrests” which have been exploited to target media personnel who are trying to perform their duties legally.
The statement urged the Egyptian Journalists' Union to protect journalists from being detained without charge and take steps to protect Mohammed Ibrahim, a journalist at al-Youm al-Sabea who was arrested on Thursday while covering clashes around Qasr el-Nil Bridge.