Introduction:

July 3, 2013 is the date that witnessed the dismissal of former President Mohamed Morsi by popular will and the agreement of the national forces following widespread popular protests that began since the former president issued a constitutional declaration that many saw at the time that the executive authority overcame the judiciary and consecrated the hegemony of one faction over the government in violation of the pledges made by the ousted president On himself to the political forces when he was elected, and these protests reached their climax on June 30, 2013, and the popular demands were united at the time in the necessity of holding early presidential elections, and then the July 3 measures came as a response to this revolution.

Since this date, the Egyptian political arena and the associated electronic and media space have witnessed excessive use of the language of insulting, slandering, insulting and dealing with the private lives of politicians and religious, national and military leaders who were a party to the July 3 measures and beyond.

The presidential elections, in which Egypt is currently experiencing an election environment, came to increase the frequency of using the language of insulting and slandering and exposing the privacy of the candidates.

In this qualitative report issued by the “Presidential Election Observatory of Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights - Egypt 2014”, we present general features of what has been monitored in relation to this issue during the last period.

An overview of the use of the insulting method in electoral practice

According to the analysis of the performance of a group of media outlets (television - news websites - social media pages) during the last stage of the electoral process, it became clear that the vast majority of government and private media outlets had “transcended” the violation of the legal rules established at this point, as it was not Monitoring any violations affecting this axis in most of these means - despite the biases of most of them for a specific candidate -.

However, this “sublimation” does not exist on the media outlets affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, especially the pages of the social networking site Facebook and the Rabaa satellite channel, respectively, while it is taken on the Al-Jazeera and Al-Jazeera channels Mubasher Egypt, highlighting them with offensive words and phrases considered as insulting And defamation and celebration of it in a number of its programs, in addition to its failure to implement professional rules regarding the disclaimer of its responsibility and its excuse from displaying such materials.

The results of monitoring the performance of media outlets affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood - as the faction opposing the post-July 3 measures, including the presidential elections - and the group's social media pages, indicate an unprecedented intensity in the use of foreign language and insulting and slandering expressions that are morally, religiously and legally incriminating.

Among the indicative examples that have been monitored on the media affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood is the famous offensive hashtag created by the group's cadres after the announcement of the candidate Abdel Fattah El-Sisi for his candidacy for the presidency, to become a major slogan in the group's demonstrations despite the shameful expression it contains and does not match the mental image. Provided by the Brotherhood for themselves.

The paradox becomes at the height of its plot when a Brotherhood procession, at least half of which is veiled and veiled women, is monitored, and the shameless slogan is raised above their heads in the form of banners and badges on the head, so how does this fit with that?

Among the other paradoxes that were monitored during the last period and specifically on the Rabaa channel affiliated with the Brotherhood, which presents a daily program for the Muslim Brotherhood preacher who has fled from Egypt, Wagdy Ghoneim, where he has been busy over the course of episodes - in a program that is supposed to be religious and promotes virtue in action and saying - in the interpretation And justify the offensive term that the electronic Brotherhood brigades gave to a presidential candidate.

And the case reached the presenter of the program mentioned in one of the episodes to the manipulation of religious rules and texts to prove that this term corresponds to the correct religion and the Sunnah of the Prophet !!!!!! .

Verbal violence, insults, slander, and exposure to the sanctity of private life did not stop at the end of a specific candidate in the last presidential elections, and if the candidate Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had the best chance of the group’s insults, then the other candidate Hamdeen Sabahi had a share of this insult and obscene speech.

 

The legal framework related to verbal violence and the electoral process

The Egyptian Penal Code and the exercise of political rights contain articles that criminalize and punish the use of insults and slander in harsh and stabbing words in honor, especially in light of political or electoral competition. Article 306 of the Penal Code, for example, stipulates that “every insult does not include attribution of a specific fact. Includes in any way an outrage of honor or honor, punishable by imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year and a fine of not less than one thousand pounds and not exceeding five thousand pounds, or either of these two penalties.

Article (48) of the Law on the Exercise of Political Rights states that anyone who publishes or broadcasts false statements or news about the subject of the election or referendum or the behavior of anyone shall be punished with imprisonment for a period of no less than six months and a fine of not less than one thousand pounds and not exceeding five thousand pounds. The candidates or his morals with his knowledge of that, with the intention of influencing the outcome of the election or referendum. ”If those words or news are broadcast at a time when the voters are unable to see the truth, the penalty is doubled.

Apart from the legal texts, the committee for monitoring and evaluating the advertising and media performance of the presidential elections has identified a number of axes about the media performance of the elections, including the lack of exposure to the personal life of the candidates, especially the negative aspect of propaganda, through various media outlets.

Based on that, we can say that verbal insults, slander and violence during the electoral process and against the candidates is merely a law and the perpetrator is punished with imprisonment and a fine, and these texts apply to a large extent to what is reported by the media affiliated with the Brotherhood.

Final recommendations

1- Implementing the rules and charters of media honor during the electoral practice

2 - Intensifying the penalties prescribed for the crimes of insult and defamation, which include exposure to the private lives of the candidates in words that are dishonorable and offensive to modesty.

3- The official committees concerned with following up and monitoring the media performance should highlight this axis in their reports and propose deterrence and punishment mechanisms to prevent its recurrence during the upcoming elections.