Egypt blocks website of one of its most prominent financial newspapers as it continues media blackout.
By Elad Benari – Arutz Sheva
Egypt on Sunday blocked the website of one of its most prominent financial newspapers, the paper’s owner said, according to Reuters.
The block expands a media blackout initiated last week to curb what authorities called support for terrorism and fake news.
Sunday’s block was of Al-Boursa, a widely read financial newspaper that generally steers clear of politics and reflects the views of a largely pro-state business community, according to Reuters.
The website of Al-Boursa’s sister publication, the English-language Daily News Egypt, was also blocked, a statement by parent company Business News said.
“Al-Boursa and Daily News Egypt newspapers express their strong condemnation for the ongoing government campaign to restrict them,” it said.
Last Wednesday, Egypt blocked access to a number of news websites including Al-Jazeera and Huffington Post Arabic.
Egypt has a longstanding feud with Qatari-owned Al-Jazeera, which it accuses of backing the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
Egypt has accused Al-Jazeera in general, and its Egypt affiliate, Al-Jazeera Mubasher Misr, in particular, of doing Doha’s bidding by serving as Islamists’ mouthpiece at a time of a ferocious crackdown on their ranks.
The station denies any bias, saying it is simply covering Islamist protests.
Security sources told Reuters last week that 21 websites had been blocked by Egypt for allegedly being affiliated with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood or being funded by Qatar.
Business News said the decision to block its sites came as a surprise because they were not among the 21 blocked last week.
Egypt is currently under a three-month state of emergency declared after two suicide bombings at Coptic churches killed more than 45. On Friday, it suffered yet another attack against Coptic Christians.