Al-Dostour (newspaper)
Artist: N/A
Year: 2012
Date of Action: August 2012
Region: Africa, Middle East
Location: Giza, Egypt
Subject: Political/Economic/Social Opinion
Medium: Journalism
Confronting Bodies: Giza primary court
Description of Artwork: Al-Dostour is a daily Egyptian newspaper that is known for its anti-Morsi sentiment and inflammatory writing. One particularly striking headline for the paper reads "The massacre of the century...In Egypt!" and describes a plot by the party in power to assassinate a new leader if one were to replace Morsi.
The Incident: New issues of the paper were seized on August 12. The paper leaders are now facing charges of insulting the president as well as inciting sectarian violence.
Results of Incident: The Freedom and Justice party's foreign relations committee head Gehad al-Haddad recently defended the confiscation as an action against slander and libel, rather than political dissent.
See also http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/fjp-official-defends-newspaper-confiscation-activists-criticize-it-0 and http://arabia.msn.com/news/middleeast/ahram/2012/august/confiscationofdostour/confiscation-dostour-newspaper-raises-fears-over-freedom.aspx?region=egyar.