Egyptian journalist imprisonment flares anger on publication law
Egypt, Politics, 3/9/2006

The freedoms committee at the Egyptian Journalists Union deplored the sentence issued against Amira Malash, the female journalist in the Egyptian daily al-Fajr (the dawn) for one year.

The committee called on members of the Union's general assembly to defend the freedom of the press and journalists after successive imprisonment sentences were taken over publication issues.

The Egyptian Human Rights Committee also expressed its concern over the continued work in Egypt in a bunch of laws "that criminalize the freedom of opinion and expression and punish by imprisonment over publication issues." It called in a statement to promptly carry out the promise given by the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to cancel the imprisonment penalty in publication issues.

In a statement to al-Jazeera TV Malash said that al-Geeza court judge issued his sentence in the first session just after 8 minutes after its beginning which raised the bewilder of the audience. She accused the judge of not listening to the defense requests on her behalf.

She also said she will appeal the sentence, criticizing the restrictions on the freedom of the press in Egypt. In other press statements she expressed regret after she had confidence in the judicial system.

The attorney general received a notification from advisor Ateyah Muhammad Awad in which he accused Malash of defaming him in an article issue in July 2005 in which she mentioned his name in a "bribe and sedition case." She, in her turn said that the article was based on an official investigation.

Journalist in the Egyptian daily al-Masri al-Youm, Abdul Naser al-Zuheiri, was sentenced for one year imprisonment in February under the charge of defaming the former minister of housing Muhammad Suleiman, who ( Suleiman) gave up his complaint and this in turn canceled the court sentence.

Journalists in Egypt have been pressuring since years the government to cancel imprisonment over press issues. The two sides talked over a draft law drafted by the union but no results were achieved. On the other hand, the Egyptian government promised to introduce a special law to this effect to the parliament in its current parliamentary session.

Previous Stories:
  Al-Baz: Mubarak will retire when finds a successor   (3/8/2006)
  Egypt shuts down Muslim Brothers paper   (3/8/2006)
  Al-Fiqi: No journalist would be imprisoned in Egypt   (2/25/2006)
  Two journalists face prison sentences   (12/28/2005)

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