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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 Journalists vow to resist
By Shaden Shehab"Journalists, for writing articles, go to prison along with thieves, murderers and drug-dealers...When is this going to end?" The statement was made by a great number of journalists after the prison sentences were handed down against the three Al-Shaab journalists. Regardless of agreeing or disagreeing with Al-Shaab's campaign against Youssef Wali, journalists believe that publication offences should not be punishable by imprisonment. They also believe that the fault is not with the judiciary, because they merely enforce the law; it is the press law that should be amended.
In reaction to the sentences, the Press Syndicate's council, headed by chairman Ibrahim Nafie, held an emergency meeting on Monday. Magdi Hussein is one of the 12 elected council members. He had won about 900 votes.
The council called for a two-hour sit-in protest on Saturday at the Press Syndicate's temporary headquarters. Moreover, the council agreed "to provide all the necessary legal assistance to the [Al-Shaab] colleagues." And, although Nafie's request to the prosecutor-general for a stay of execution of the sentences was refused, Nafie will continue efforts in this domain.
The programmes of all candidates for last June's council elections included calls for striking off law provisions of imprisonment for publication offences. All elected council members have vowed to fight for this cause, especially after four journalists were imprisoned last year.
On 24 February 1998, Magdi Hussein, and Al-Shaab's cartoonist, Mohamed Hilal, were each sentenced to one year in jail for slandering Alaa El-Alfi, son of former Interior Minister Hassan El-Alfi. On 18 March 1998, Gamal Fahmi of the daily Al-Arabi newspaper, mouthpiece of the Nasserist Party, received a six-month jail sentence after being convicted of slandering writer Tharwat Abaza. On 28 May 1998, a three-month jail sentence was handed down against Amr Nassef, a member of the Nasserist Party and a journalist with Al-Osbou newspaper for publishing a "libelous" article in Al-Ahrar newspaper, mouthpiece of the Liberal Party, also against Abaza.
Their request for a stay of execution of the sentences until the Court of Cassation reached a decision was turned down. But, after spending time in jail, the Court of Cassation quashed all their prison sentences.
Hussein and Hilal had spent more than four months in prison before their release was ordered. Nassef had spent three months and Fahmi was released three weeks before completing his term.
"The Press Syndicate's decisions are only a start," said Yasser Rizq, a member of the Press Syndicate's council. He explained that while efforts would continue to win the release of the three journalists until the Court of Cassation pronounced a decision, "we [the council], with the support of the general assembly, will start a battle for striking off the imprisonment provisions in the press law. He predicted that "it will be as fierce as it was when Law 93 was passed."
Since the passing of Law 93 of 1995, journalists have campaigned for canceling imprisonment provisions for publication offences. Law 93 of 1995 provided tough penalties for offending journalists. Following stiff opposition from the Press Syndicate, the law was repealed and another press law was passed in 1996, but it also provided for the imprisonment of journalists for publication offences, albeit for shorter durations. Under this law, libel is punishable by a maximum of one year's imprisonment and/or a fine ranging between LE1,000 and LE5,000. If the victim of the libel is a public official, or if the issue is related to public duties, the maximum penalty is two years' imprisonment and/or a fine ranging between LE5,000 and LE20,000.
Opposition parties expressed "rejection [of] and grave concern" over the sentences handed down against the three Al-Shaab journalists. In statements, the parties requested the journalists' release and cancellation of imprisonment penalties for publication offences. They stressed that Al-Shaab did not go beyond the limits of their right of criticism.
The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR) expressed serious concern for the rulings and, in a published statement, said that "although EOHR's stance is to respect all judicial verdicts, it strongly condemns the use of imprisonment penalties against journalists in publication and opinion cases." The statement said that the "ruling draws attention to the need to review the legal framework governing the press in Egypt in order to cancel all freedom-restricting penalties in cases of opinion and publication."
The EOHR suggested the use of fines only, "especially that the claimant has the right to respond in the same newspaper, and to file a case for appropriate civil damages before the civil courts in case it is confirmed that the journalist violated the Code of Conduct of the journalistic profession." The organisation concluded that "the use of freedom-restricting penalties will impose further restrictions on journalists' freedom and on their right to exercise acceptable criticism, which constitutes one of the main guarantees of press freedom."
Prominent writer and managing editor of Al-Ahram, Salama Ahmed Salama, said that "as long as there are provisions in the law that allow for the imprisonment of journalists for publication offences, journalists will go to jail. We must not forget this fact and only be reminded of it when a journalist is sentenced to prison. We cannot blame the judiciary for enforcing the law."
