Lawsuit: Freedom of Information Law Is A Must

Egyptian lawyer Ibrahim Al Salamouni has filed a lawsuit before the State Council; calling for a ruling that commits the president as well as the PM to issue a law for the freedom of information.

The lawsuit pointed out that the journalism law (69/1996) provides that the journalist is free to get the information, statistics and news, whether governmental or non-governmental, for publishing. Therefore a new law for the freedom of information should be issued, and its articles should be formed on the basis of getting the information from the official and trusted sources, as a right for the citizens and journalists either.

The law should include articles for penalizing those who obscure the information, also determining the secret information that should be obscured. This is to shape the concept of national security in order that the authorities couldn’t obscure the information on the pretext of national security.

The lawsuit emphasized the law will pave the way for opening new legal paths for the transparency, as the country will eliminate the rumors for the society’s stability.