Egyptian Civil Society

Freedoms of press and speech are guaranteed under the Egyptian Constitution, but several legal restrictions undermine these freedoms in practice. The situation grew worse during 2014 ( FotP 2015 ). Authorities repressed any criticism of the government, leading to an environment of strong self-censorship among media outlets (FotP 2015). Defamation is a criminal offense and can incur prison sentences of up to five years. Journalists face intimidation, harassment, physical attacks, arrests, imprisonment and murder, and overheard conversations in the public sphere have also led to arrests ( HRR 2014 ). There is no law protecting freedom of access to information, and the government is generally unresponsive to citizens' requests of access to information (HRR 2014). Despite some exceptions, the government generally does not restrict access to the internet; nevertheless, Egypt's society and its press environment are considered "not free" (FotP 2015).

Egypt's civil society environment is very restricted and has worsened in the post-revolution period ( BTI 2014 ). The government’s collaboration with civil society in Egypt has been described as superficial and insincere (HRR 2014). The Central Agency for Auditing and Accounting, the government’s anti-corruption body, does not actively collaborate with civil society (HRR 2014). A presidential decree passed in mid-2014 bans all foreign funding to NGOs that is deemed "harmful to the national interest" (FotP 2015).