Tag: msm

22 newspapers suspend Sunday edition to protest press clampdown

Posted on By 3arabawy

From the Daily Star Egypt:

A total of 22 independent and opposition daily newspapers did not publish on Sunday in protest of the lengthy jail sentences recently handed down to several journalists.
The newspapers were Al-Masry Al-Youm, Al-Badil, Al-Dostour, Al-Osbou, Al-Fajr, Al-Midan, Al-Forsan, Sout Al-Omah, Al-Ahali, Al-Mogaz, Al-Arabi Al-Nassery, Al-Gamaheer, Al-Karama, Nahdat Masr, Al-Nahar, Al-Alam Al-Youm, Al-Mawqef Al-Arabi, Al-Mal, Al-Khamis, Al-Ahrar, Al-Wafd and Al Ghad.
“The newspapers’ position is a very good and [this protest] is positive,” Hafez Abu Saeda, director of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR), told Daily News Egypt.
Abu Saeda added that this form of protest should not be seen in a negative light, as some believe it to be. “On the contrary, it is positive and has been carried out successfully. [It] will definitely force the government to take action.”
The protest came one week after the postponement of Al-Dostour editor Ibrahim Eissa’s trial, at the request of his lawyers who asked for more time to investigate the nine lawsuits filed against him.
Eissa is accused of publishing wrong information about the president’s health and spreading rumors that threatened foreign investments in Egypt and caused public panic. Eight other lawsuits were filed by lawyers affiliated with the National Democratic Party (NDP) accusing Eissa of “causing them emotional damage” after publishing these rumors.
Two weeks ago, Adel Hammouda, editor of Al-Fajr weekly, Wael Al-Ibrashy, editor of Sout Al-Omah weekly, and Abd Al-Halim Kandil, former editor of Al-Karama newspaper, along with Eissa were all sentenced to a year in prison and a LE 20,000 fine for intentionally insulting President Mubarak, his son and the ruling party.
The chief editor of Al-Wafd newspaper, Anwar Al-Hawari, as well as Mahmoud Galeb, and Amir Salem — two journalists at the same newspaper — also received a two-year jail sentence for misquoting the Minister of Justice.
Al-Badil editor Mohammed Sayyed Said is also facing prosecution for writing about President Hosni Mubarak’s health.

Egypt’s September of discontent

Posted on By 3arabawy

By Amira Howeidy:

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.