ON FEBRUARY 23, 2004, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak phoned Galal Aref, head of the Egyptian Journalists’ Syndicate, with some very good news: The country’s practice of imprisoning journalists for their writings was going to be eliminated. Mubarak’s promise of reform was in line with other optimistic proclamations the president has made in the past few years, such as that of Egypt’s first multi-candidate presidential elections in 2005, which hinted that Cairo might be turning toward democracy).

But like the presidential elections, Mubarak’s overtures toward free speech have also proven to be less than encouraging. Since April, at least seven Cairo-based journalists have been arrested for reporting on allegations of fraud in last year’s parliamentary elections. Others were beaten by Egyptian security forces for attempting to cover the related protests. This backlash is a reminder that what the Egyptian government says is often very different from what it does.