Human Rights Group Criticizes the Status of Academic Freedom in Egypt

At a time when the Egyptian regime is coming under increasing pressure both locally and internationally for its failure to reform, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released the report "Egypt: Reading between the Red Lines" on the status of academic freedom in Egypt. The report argues that repression from both the government and private Islamic groups has created an academic environment devoid of a free exchange of ideas. The report claims that all major components of university life including teaching, student activities, research, and campus protests have been negatively affected by governmental interference and Islamic groups' intolerance.

The persistence of rule by the emergency law, which constrains all aspects of political life in Egypt, has also placed severe restrictions on academic freedom. The report maintains that the presence of security personnel on university campuses?both regular security forces and plainclothes security men? exceeds in terms of numbers and assigned roles their supposed duty of merely protecting public order. The report outlines several cases where security forces sat-in on lectures to deter discussions on controversial topics, prevented guest speakers from entering university premises, and abused, intimidated and on occasion detained leftist and Islamist students preventing them from running in student elections, from hanging posters, and from distributing leaflets. In addition, security forces have responded violently to peaceful student protests and prevented them from moving out of the campus areas to the streets.

In addition to the security situation, the legal framework severely limits academic freedom. For example, Law no. 20/1936 allows censorship of all imported course textbooks, which often leads to banning books on the three most sensitive topics in Egypt: politics, religion, and sex? thereby stunting the development of social science disciplines. Social science research is also hampered by presidential Decree no. 2916/1965, which requires permits for social science research that involves surveys and polls?which effectively translates into an avoidance of controversial research projects by both students and professors. The two aforementioned laws prevent the natural development of academic research and impinge negatively on the quality of higher education.

The state also controls university life through its appointment of state university rectors and deans of faculties. The 1979 University Law provides deans with wide powers over student life including their right to approve or disapprove candidates running in student union elections and the creation of student clubs and associations. Deans frequently interfere with freedom of expression and opinion by monitoring classrooms, preventing controversial professors from interacting with students outside the classroom, blocking students unfriendly to the regime from running in student elections, and monitoring student club activities to check if they are in line with the regime's interests and agendas. The fact that the state has control over appointments and promotions leads many professors to practice self-censorship and avoid controversial topics.

HRW's report states that the dearth of academic freedom is further exacerbated by certain Islamist student groups. The report claims that these groups' verbal and/or physical intimidation of professors and students, usually ignored by the authorities, have created a "climate of terror", causing professors to fear assigning controversial books or discussing sensitive topics relating to religion and sex.

The HRW report energized Egyptian human rights activists to reiterate their demands for academic freedom as it is an essential element in establishment and consolidation of democracy in Egypt. As argued by Dr. Raouf Abbas, Egyptian historian and academic freedom activist, universities should not only provide students with an education but they should also have a role in teaching students to participate actively in the public sphere? both roles severely undermined by governmental violations of academic freedom. On its side, the government has completely ignored the report, which wasn't even mentioned in any of the official media, while the deputy dean of Cairo University accused the report of being "biased and void of reality".