Egypt cracks down on news websites

Egypt's government, already accused of muzzling freedom of expression and opposition to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has blocked access to a host of news websites including Qatar's Al-Jazeera.

Around 20 websites based in Qatar and Egypt have been inaccessible since Wednesday night, including the Doha newspapers Al-Watan and Al-Raya, the Muslim Brotherhood's Ikhwan Online and Egypt-based Al-Sharq television which is close to the outlawed group.

Independent sites such as Mada Masr, which takes a strong stand against corruption, and Huffpost Arabi, the Arabic edition of the Huffington Post, have also been cut for Egyptian web surfers.

It is not the first time that Al-Jazeera has run foul of Sisi's administration.

Cairo has accused the network of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood which it blames for violence after Sisi ousted the movement from power in 2013.

Timothy Kaldas, a non-resident fellow at the Washington-based Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, said the latest crackdown appeared to be aimed at curbing discontent in Egypt and enacted without fear of consequences.

"More and more people are frustrated in Egypt in general. So they want to stop the critical information which could increase the frustration," he said.

An anti-terrorism law, adopted in August 2015, lays down stiff penalties for publishing "false information" on attacks in Egypt that contradicts official reports from the country's defence ministry, stirring condemnation from rights groups.

A growing list of media personalities have since either decided to down tools and stay silent or run into trouble with the judiciary.

In the 2017 press freedom index published by watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Egypt ranks 161st out of 180 countries.