[progchat_action] Egypt to jail newspaper editors
 
Date: Sun, 16 Sep 2007 12:45:50 -0500 (CDT)

(The moral? If you are in Egypt, criticize President Mubarak and go to jail.
SR)

Egypt sentences newspaper editors

Al Jazeera
September 13, 2007

An Egyptian court has sentenced four newspaper editors to one year in prison
with labour for defaming Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's president, and his son
Gamal, court sources said.

The court on Thursday also ordered Ibrahim Issa, Adel Hammouda, Wael
el-Ebrashi and Abdel-Halim Qandil to pay fines of 20,000 Egyptian pounds
($3,540) each.

The court allowed them to pay bail of 10,000 pounds each to stay out of jail
pending appeal, if they decide to appeal.

The lawsuit against the editors was filed by two members of the ruling
National Democratic party (NDP) about a year ago.

On Tuesday, state security prosecutors referred Issa, editor of the daily
newspaper Al-Dustour, to trial in a separate case on the same defamation
charge.

International and local human rights groups say criticising Mubarak or his
family is still a risky venture in Egypt. They also accuse the government of
cracking down on other forms of expression, such as political blogs.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/51F48D0C-562C-4C9C-B3E1-A128A5DFA0D3.
htm

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