Four Egyptian editors sentenced to a year in prison for insulting the president
A Cairo court sentenced the editors of four outspoken tabloids to a year in prison for defaming President Hosni Mubarak and his ruling party, judicial officials said Thursday.
The editors, who all run a new generation of brash, tabloid-style newspapers that have been pushing the boundaries of state press policy, will have to pay fines of 20,000 Egyptian pounds (US$3,500, €2,500), as well as another 10,000 pound (US$1,750, €1,250) in bail to avoid the prison sentence
during the appeals process, said a judicial official on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to speak to the press.
"My first reaction was surprise. The sentence is very harsh," said Adel Hammouda, editor of the weekly al-Fagr about his sentence. "The judge praised the president and his son and the ruling party while reading the verdict — it was unprecedented."
The editors described the verdict as a new crackdown on the freedom of the press after a few years of relative openness.
According to the judge, as quoted by the official Middle East News Agency, "the defendants failed to prove the authenticity of what they published and didn't present any proof (of their assertions) in their defense."
Qandil told the Associated Press that he was sued over a column he wrote attacking the president for his criticism of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, during its war with Israel during the summer of 2006.
"I will appeal. I won't pay anything because if I did, it means I recognize the court verdict," he said.
The other editors were tried for writing articles criticizing the prime minister, the interior minister and the president's son Gamal, who many believe is set to succeed his father.
The lawsuit, which was brought by a lawyer belonging to the ruling National Democratic Party against all four papers, is entirely separate from another case currently confronting al-Dustour's Eissa about spreading rumors of the president's failing health.
The general prosecutor charged Eissa Tuesday with disturbing the peace and harming national economic interests for printing the widespread rumors that Mubarak was ill.
Mubarak has ruled Egypt for more than a quarter century and has no designated successor, resulting in periodic scares over his health and the future of the country.
Several opposition and independent newspapers published stories for several weeks last month speculating on the poor state of the president's health, with al-Dustour even contending that Mubarak sometimes lapses into a coma.
Over the past three years, new private-owned newspapers have flourished in Egypt, including many with a breathless tabloid style and a relaxed approach to facts, and have siphoned readers away from the staid government dailies and their relentless diet of official, regime-approved news.
Hammouda, however, said that the easing of Egypt's once stringent controls on the independent press now appears to be at an end.
"The regime is retreating from its only bit of progress which was to give some freedom to the press to reflect public opinion," he said. "Now the whole thing is turning around."