Four journalists tried in Egypt

The Egyptian attorney general decided to raised a criminal case against four journalists working for the Egyptian Islamic paper of al-Shaab under accusations of "defaming and insulting."

An Egyptian judicial source said that the chief-editor of al-Shaab, which is published twice a week, Majdi Hussein, journalists Adel Hussein and Salah Bedewi, and caricaturist Issam Hanafil will be presented before the court under the charges of defaming Egyptian Minister of Agriculture Youssef Wali.

Investigations started on Monday by questioning the four journalists before the attorney general Raja al-Arabi following a complaint raised against them. Under the title "It is too much, stop this minister" the daily al-Shaab has in 31 of its issues launched a campaign against the minister, accusing him of cooperating with Israel and eliminating Egyptian agricultural crops through permitting "Israeli agricultural trials" used by agents of the "Israeli intelligence system," the Mossad, in international circles to distort the image of Egypt.