egyptian press

Officials: 3 Egyptian journalists sentenced to prison for spreadingfalse judiciary news?By NADIA ABOU EL-MAGDAssociated Press WriterCAIRO, Egypt (AP) _ A Cairo court on Monday sentenced the editor andtwo journalists of an opposition newspaper to two years in prison forallegedly publishing false news about the country's judiciary.The court also ordered Anwar el-Hawary, the outspoken editor ofAl-Wafd daily newspaper, Mahmoud Ghalab and Amir Salem, to pay 5,000Egyptian pounds (US$894, €633.46) in bail and a 2,001 Egyptianpound(US$358, €253.67) fine, a judiciary official said on condition ofanonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the press.El-Harawy said he did not publish false information and will appealthe sentence."The regime's stupidity has no limits. It's unbelievable," el-Hawarytold the Associated Press in a phone interview. "The war they arewaging against us (journalists), they will lose it no matter what theydo, and we will win it even without effort."In January, Al-Wafd, which serves as a mouthpiece for the oldestEgyptian political party under the same name, published a story thatquoted Justice Minister Mamdouh Marei insulting Egyptian judges,especially reformists judges, during a meeting of Egypt's upper houseof parliament. The minister denied he made the comments, and 12lawyers filed a lawsuit against the three journalists in April.Judge Medhat Fawakeh, who issued Monday's sentence, urged the Egyptianpress council to activate code of honor for journalists urging them tobe more professional. The judge said freedom of the press was"enjoying its best time" under President Hosni Mubarak, Egypt'sofficial news agency MENA quoted him as saying.Monday's sentencing comes after four editors of tabloid-stylenewspapers were sentenced earlier this month to a year in prison fordefaming Mubark and his ruling National Democratic Party in variousarticles.One of the four editors also will be put on trial in a separate caseover his paper's recent reports questioning the health of Mubark, whois 79 years old. His trial opens Oct. 1.Journalists, activists and human rights group have complained of a newcrackdown on the freedom of the press after a few years of relativeopenness.Mubarak has ruled Egypt for more than a quarter century and has nodesignated successor, resulting in periodic scares over his health andthe future of the country.Under pressure both at home and by the U.S. Bush administration _Mubarak surprised his country in February 2005 by saying he wouldchange the constitution to allow Egypt's first multi-candidatepresidential elections.He won re-election in September 2005, defeating 10 other candidatesamid charges of voter fraud and intimidation. In follow-upparliamentary elections, however, the Muslim Brotherhood _ thecountry's most powerful opposition group _ stunned the government witha strong showing.Perhaps because of that, Mubarak's regime began sharply pulling back:hundreds of Brotherhood members have been arrested since then, and 40of their leaders are standing trial in a military court. Scores ofactivists were arrested last year for supporting reformist judges whoblew the whistle over vote rigging in 2005 elections.In an editorial in Monday's Washington Post, columnist Jackson Diehlcriticized the recent press arrests and jail sentencings."The press has survived even as Mubarak moved methodically to crushother nascent center of opposition in the past 18 months, includingliberal political parties, a movement of judges seeking greaterindependence for the courts, and the Muslim Brotherhood," Diehl wrote."But this month, irritated by press speculation about his failinghealth, the 79-year-old president turned on the newspapers," he said.