Journo gets 12 months for libel
2006-03-09 10:02
Cairo - A court had sentenced a female journalist to one year in jail for defaming a judge, her paper's chief editor reported on Wednesday.
It was the second time in two months that a journalist had been sentenced to prison for defaming a government official.
The editor Adel Hamouda said Amira Malash, a reporter for the independent weekly, Al-Fagr, convicted Malash of libel on Tuesday and sentenced her to 12 months' imprisonment in a hearing that lasted only eight minutes. He said the paper would appeal the verdict.
Malash said: "The judge didn't even listen to the defence team." She was free on bail pending the appeal.
Security officials
She said: "At a time when we have freedom of expression in Egypt, this verdict is wrecking everything. Freedom of the press in Egypt ... is collapsing."
Malash wrote in an article in September that an Alexandria court judge, Attiyah Awadh, was being investigated for corruption.
Her report was sourced to anonymous security officials in the Mediterranean port city. The judge sued her for libel.
The ruling came after an appeals court in February upheld a 12-month prison sentence for a journalist from the independent daily, Al-Masri al-Youm, after he was convicted of defaming former housing minister Mohammed Suleiman.
Libel complaints
Two other journalists from the paper were slapped with fines. Suleiman announced this week that he was withdrawing his libel complaints against the three journalists.
It was now up to the general prosecutor to decide whether to carry out the sentences or void them.
Al-Masri al-Youm and Al-Fagr were part of a new generation of independent Egyptian newspapers - not connected to either the government or to opposition parties - that had become known for their prominent articles on government corruption.
In February 2004, Mubarak promised to revoke sections of the press law that set sentences of up to two years in prison for journalists convicted of libel.
However, the parliament, which was controlled by Mubarak's ruling party, had not passed the change.
Last month, the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights and the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists urged Mubarak to fulfill his promises to change the law.
- AP