Special to WorldTribune.com

CAIRO — Egypt’s military regime has warned against talking to foreigners.

The regime ordered the production and broadcast of television
advertisements that suggested that Egypt was being inundated by foreign
spies.

The public service announcements warned Egyptians against talking to foreigners, particularly those who appeared to be Western.

“Every word comes with a price,” the television ad said. “A word can
save a nation.”

Opposition sources said the regime encouraged supporters to search for foreigners suspected of spying. Over the last few months, young Westerners with cameras have been stopped in downtown Cairo and brought to police stations.

“This is a serious matter that touches upon who has the power and the access to disseminate such advertisements,” Rasha Abdullah, assistant professor of mass communication at the American University in Cairo, told the Al Ahram newspaper.

Sources said the military regime has recruited thugs to intimidate
Westerners and Egyptian protesters, particularly around Cairo’s Tahrir
Square. On June 8, regime agents attacked women in Tahrir Square who called
for an end to sexual harassment. In some cases, the assailants tore off the
clothes of the protesters.

The announcements, sponsored by the Information Ministry, ran ahead of
Egyptian presidential elections on June 16-17. Information Minister
Ahmed Anis ordered the suspension of the ads after the Tourism Ministry
warned that they would scare away tourism, Egypt’s leading source of hard
currency.

“They were deeply offensive,” Tourism Minister Munir Abdul Nour said.

The sources said the ads, still airing on at least one
channel as of June 12, reflected xenophobia encouraged by the regime. They
said the ad campaign was meant to lay the groundwork for regime critics to
be labeled as spies for foreign governments.

“This is clearly the work of the Interior Ministry and the intelligence
agencies,” an opposition source who did not want to be identified said.

The public service ads, which ran on state and private television,
showed a blonde man described as a spy roaming a cafe. The Western-looking
young man told three Egyptians in broken Arabic: “I love you so much” and
then listened to their complaints about Egypt’s economy and regime.

“From the beginning, he knows why he is here and sets up his goal,” the
narrator said. “He won’t have to spend much time getting to know the people
in the place.”

The ads were broadcast amid the resumption of a trial of
Western-sponsored non-governmental organizations accused of fomenting
unrest. Forty-three NGO staffers have been prosecuted, but the Americans
were allowed to leave Egypt, which receives $1.3 billion a year in U.S.
military aid.

“The authorities have so far done nothing to investigate these attacks,”
Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, a representative of the London-based Amnesty
International, said.

  “Every word comes with a price”, Amnesty International, Tahrir Square, Tourism Minister Abdul Nour, Westerners with cameras stopped in Cairo