September is a resonant time in Egyptian politics. It was then, 26 years ago, that an angry Anwar al Sadat – Egypt’s then president – sent over 1,500 journalists, intellectuals and politicians from across the political spectrum to jail without trial, and fired a host of others from their jobs, for what he believed was their plotting to overthrow his regime. Less than a month later – 6 October, 1981- senior military officers assassinated Sadat during a military parade. His deputy, Hosni Mubarak, took office in a peaceful and constitutional process and has remained in power since then.
More than a quarter of a century later, the shadow of 1981 is not as distant as it should be with 11 journalists given custodial sentences for offending the president and his son.
Of the 11, five are chief editors, including the fiery and outspoken Ibrahim Eissa of al Dostour, Wael el Ibrashi of Sawt al Umma, Adel Hammouda of al Fagr and Abdel Halim Qandil, the former editor of al Karama. All were sentenced on 13 September to one year in prison, fined LE20,000 ($3,636) and granted bail for a further LE10,000 ($1,818) pending appeal. Their crime? ‘Libelling’ senior figures in the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), including President Hosni Mubarak, his son Assistant Secretary-General Gamal Mubarak and Prime Minister Ahmad Nazif. Less than two weeks later, on 24 September, Anwar al Hawari, editor of the opposition party mouthpiece al Wafd, and two other journalists were sentenced to two years in jail for misquoting the justice minister.
The five editors were sentenced under Article 188 of the Egyptian Penal Code which stipulates that anyone who ‘publishes false news, statements or rumors likely to disturb public order’ can face a one-year prison sentence and a fine that does not exceed $3,636.
Tag: journalists
Director of labor rights group, freelance journalist sentenced to one year for defamation
From the Daily Star Egypt:
Kamal Abbas, the director of the Center for Trade Union and Worker Services (CTUWS), a high-profile labor rights group shut down by the authorities last winter, was sentenced to one year in prison for defamation.
The case was filed against both him and a freelance writer for the group’s magazine, after it published allegations of corruption against a Cairo youth center which later proved to be true.
Both Abbas and the writer, Muhammad Helmy, were sentenced by the Helwan Misdemeanor Court, but remain free pending an appeal which will be heard on Dec. 26.
The charges were published in Kalam Sanay’iya, the magazine of the Center for Trade Union and Worker Services, which was shut down in March after the state accused it of threatening national security by encouraging workers to strike.
In the article, Helmy alleged that the management of the 15th of May Youth Center was corrupt, and laid the blame on Muhammad Mustafa Ibrahim, the chairman of its board and a member of the National Democratic Party who was once a parliamentary candidate.
When the article appeared, Ibrahim sued both Helmy and Abbas for “public abuse” and “defamation of his capacity as a public representative.”
The author claimed inside knowledge of the center’s operations because he was also a member of its board of directors, and, along with four other board members filed a complaint against Ibrahim before Cairo governor Abdel Azim Wazir last year.
Wazir assigned a task force to investigate the charges, which released a report last January confirming Helmy’s allegations of financial misconduct and recommending that Ibrahim be removed from his position.
Mahalla updates
I received a statement from the Workers’ Coordination Committee regarding the Ghazl el-Mahalla Strike.
The statement describes how the political forces are now united behind the Mahalla workers, and includes details about the solidarity movement with the strikers that is mushrooming. Not only was there a solidarity protest at the Grain Mills, and a strike looming in few hours at Kafr el-Dawar.. but there were statements issued by the Textile workers in Ghazl Shebeen workers, as well as a strong fundraising campaign for the strikers among the workers in Mahalla, Tanta, Helwan, Shobra, the Tenth of Ramadan City, Suez, Alexandria, Beheira, Mansoura, Ismailia and Port Said.
The statement also includes more details about the case against the Mahalla Five, and it turns out there are new charges leveled against two journalists from the opposition Al-Wafd newspaper for “inciting the strikers”!!!!! Basically it’s a move by the Mubarak’s regime to intimidate labor correspondents from covering the strike.
Down with Mubarak… Victory to the Mahalla Strikers…