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Al-Ahram Weekly 19 - 25 August 1999 Issue No. 443 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 19 - 25 August 1999 Issue No. 443
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters In prison again
By Khaled DawoudContrary to expectations, the Cairo criminal court handed down on Saturday harsh sentences against three journalists working for the opposition Al-Shaab newspaper -- chief editor Magdi Hussein, journalist Salah Bedewi and cartoonist Essam Hanafi. Each was condemned to two year's imprisonment and fined LE20,000. The court found the three guilty of libelling and slandering Minister of Agriculture Youssef Wali. Adel Hussein, former chief editor of Al-Shaab, mouthpiece of the Islamist-oriented Labour Party, was also convicted of libel, but was only ordered to pay a fine of LE20,000. Adel Hussein is Labour's secretary-general. The four defendants were also ordered to pay Wali an initial compensation of LE501, which means that Wali can now sue the journalists to seek a larger amount for the damage done to his reputation.
For more than four months, Al-Shaab had launched a fierce campaign against Wali, who is also deputy prime minister and secretary-general of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). In numerous articles, main headlines and cartoons, Al-Shaab accused Wali of "treason" for building up strong ties with the Israeli agriculture industry and using his NDP position to send hundreds of young men to Israel as part of his effort to normalise bilateral relations. The newspaper also accused Wali of corruption, abuse of power and "destroying national agriculture".
The minister brought a libel lawsuit against the four journalists which proved to be one of the fastest ever libel trials in recent years. Hearings began on 15 May and the presiding judge, Hassib El-Battrawi, brought them to a close on 29 June, setting 14 August as the date of announcing his decision. He denied the Al-Shaab lawyers the opportunity to turn proceedings into a political trial, in which the government's policy of normalising ties with Israel would be brought under fire. The lawyers, who had defended Magdi Hussein in a previous libel lawsuit brought by then Interior Minister Hassan El-Alfi last year, attempted to follow the same scenario and asked that Wali be summoned for questioning so that he might be grilled in public in the hope that this would force him to drop the lawsuit. But Judge Battrawi refused to summon Wali for questioning and accused the lawyers of deliberately attempting to prolong hearings.
Magdi Hussein and Bedewi, who were not present in court on Saturday, turned themselves in hours after the sentences were announced. The Al-Shaab cartoonist, Hanafi, failed to hand himself over to police by the time the Weekly went to print and is considered to be on the run. However, Al-Shaab deputy chief editor, Talaat Rumeih, told the Weekly that Hanafi was going to hand himself over soon.
Before handing himself over to the authorities, Magdi Hussein told reporters that he did not acknowledge the sentence against him and thought that it was unfair. He added that he was not "scared of prison to which I am being sent because of my political, nationalist and professional stands." He also said that he was turning himself in "because life at large has become ugly and it is better to be locked up with drug dealers, pickpockets and thieves." He argued that the sentences passed against him and his colleagues should serve as "a warning to all journalists of the fate awaiting them and the dangers they face."
Security forces on Monday raided Adel Hussein's house in order to force him to pay the fine of LE20,000. The Labour's Party's secretary-general announced initially that he would not pay the fine in protest against the sentences. But after he was detained for a few hours at the Cairo Police Department, he presented a request to the prosecutor-general asking to pay the fine in instalments. His request was accepted and he was freed.
Also on Monday, Prosecutor Abdel-Wahid turned down a request presented by the head of the Press Syndicate, Ibrahim Nafie, to suspend the prison sentences passed against the three journalists until the Court of Cassation reviews the case. The prosecutor's office said the request had to be made by the defendants themselves or their lawyers. As a result, lawyers submitted a new request for the suspension of the sentences.
According to the Egyptian legal system, sentences handed down by criminal courts must be enforced immediately, but the defendants have the right to file an appeal with the Court of Cassation from behind bars. Lawyers said they had a second option, which takes more time, which is to file an appeal with the Court of Cassation for suspension of sentence pending the outcome of its review of the case.
"We have used the two options, but hope that the prosecutor will accept our request and agree to release the defendants immediately until a final ruling is announced," said Samir El-Bagouri, a human rights lawyer. El-Bagouri explained that it takes from two to three months for the Court of Cassation to set a date for considering the case, meaning that the defendants would remain in prison in the interim.
Last year, four journalists, including Magdi Hussein, were held in prison between three and six months following their conviction in libel lawsuits. Ragaa El-Arabi, prosecutor-general at the time, rejected all requests for their release pending the Court of Cassation's ruling.
The only exception made by El-Arabi was the case of Mustafa Bakri, editor-in-chief of the independent weekly Al-Osbou, and his brother, Mahmoud, who had been sentenced to one year's imprisonment each for slandering Mohamed Ali Mahgoub, former minister of Al-Awqaf (religious endowments).
"We hope that Magdi Hussein, Bedewi and Hanafi will be treated like the Bakris," said El-Bagouri. By the time the Weekly went to press, recently-appointed Prosecutor-General Abdel-Wahid had not responded to the requests submitted by Al-Shaab and Press Syndicate lawyers to release the journalists pending the Court of Cassation's ruling.
Judge Battrawi ordered the maximum penalty against Magdi Hussein, Bedewi and Hanafi. According to El-Bagouri, the human rights lawyer, the judge had the choice to either sentence the defendants to imprisonment, order a fine or impose both penalties, "and he went for the third option".
Judge Battrawi lashed out at the Al-Shaab journalists in a short statement he read out before announcing the sentences. He said, "The defendants filled their pens with black hatred instead of black ink and launched a blind and unfair campaign against their victim." The judge accused the journalists of using libellous language by referring to Wali as a "traitor", "Israeli preacher", "a failure" and "an eyesore for the government". The judge also said the defendants made false accusations against Wali by claiming that "he worked on behalf of a foreign government against Egypt's interests", "cooperated with the intelligence service of a foreign country [Israel] to harm Egypt's economy", and "provided a foreign country with information and documents".
The judge said that if these accusations were true, "the victim [Wali] would have earned the contempt of his nation and people and should have been punished according to the law...Yet, the defendants failed to prove any of their claims and did not provide evidence to corroborate their accusations."
