Egyptian police raided the Cairo offices of the news network Al-Jazeera on Sunday in what is being interpreted by some of Egypt’s revolutionaries as a crackdown on free expression and a continuation of some of the autocratic practices of the regime of ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak.

McClatchy reports that security police confiscated equipment and detained an engineer. Officials for the interim military rulers of Egypt blame the incident on bad paperwork, but the excuse isn’t flying and there are fears among some of the Tahrir Square protesters that their hard-fought freedom is threatened by this and more serious incidents. — PZS

McClatchy Newspapers:

The contradiction of government policies put us in a complicated situation,” said Safwat el Alem, a professor of political media at Cairo University. “Am I supposed to believe the media minister when he confirms the protection of freedoms, or should I fear him when he announces laws banning the press from tackling vital issues and denying permits for media workers?”

[…] A blogger who’s been charged with spreading false rumors for publishing a lengthy article on torture by Egyptian police and soldiers said she was uncowed by the military’s hostility.

“I will publish on the Internet, on the walls of Tahrir Square; I will write my stories on my shirts and stand in public for people to read it,” said Rasha Azab. “You will never be able to suppress us, not anymore.”

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