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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 April - 3 May 2000 Issue No. 479 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 April - 3 May 2000 Issue No. 479
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Special Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Onward, journalists!
By Shaden Shehab"Journalists should not be imprisoned for publishing offences." This statement has been repeatedly made and even shouted out once by a journalist who was being sentenced to jail. Journalists are aware, however, that it is not the fault of judges, who are simply enforcers of the law. What have to be changed are the 1996 Press Law and the Penal Code. The Press Syndicate has attempted to achieve this elusive goal for years, but without success until now.
On 16 April, Salah Qabadaya, editor-in-chief of the daily Al-Ahrar, mouthpiece of the Liberal Party, and four of its journalists were sentenced to six months imprisonment after they were convicted of libelling Mohamed Fahim Rayan, chairman of EgyptAir. As they are appealing against the sentence, the journalists have not yet been put behind bars.
In late March, Magdi Hussein, editor-in-chief of Al-Shaab, mouthpiece of the Islamist-oriented Labour Party, and two of its journalists were given sentences ranging from one to two years for libelling Youssef Wali, deputy prime minister and minister of agriculture. They are currently in prison. The same fate is being faced by dozens of other journalists who have also been accused of libel.
A strongly-worded statement issued on 19 April by the Press Syndicate's council said, "Another court verdict ordering the imprisonment of five Al-Ahrar journalists confirms the fears of journalists that imprisonment is being sanctioned as the punishment for publishing offences, threatening the permitted margin of press freedom and expression, which is guaranteed by the Constitution to all citizens."
The statement added that "freedom-restricting penalties for publishing offences undermine the right to a free press, damage Egypt's image as a civilised country, terrify those who publicly express their opinion and violate their right to free and fearless expression."
The council affirmed its commitment to intensifying its campaign to cancel the legal provisions that impose sentences of imprisonment for publishing offences and to oppose restrictions on freedoms. It has already prepared a draft press law that removes the imprisonment option.
"The plan is to create an appropriate climate before the draft law is submitted to parliament," Yehia Qalash, general secretary of the syndicate's council, told Al Ahram Weekly. "A dialogue will first open with government officials; syndicate chairman Ibrahim Nafie is already active in this direction. We do not want to become involved in a clash with the government, because any legislation concerning the press is a matter of national security," Qalash said.
A second step will be "the fourth general congress of journalists that will be held in October. It will give us the opportunity to sway public opinion in our favour prior to the November parliamentary elections," Qalash continued.
Moreover, "no less than 10 journalists will nominate themselves for parliament membership, in order to guarantee that our demands are correctly put forward," said Abdel-Aal El-Baqouri, vice-chairman of the council. He hoped that the draft would then be discussed by the new parliament.
On the same day that the syndicate's council met, its freedoms committee held a three-hour session which urged the council to open a direct dialogue in the next six months with the judiciary, the minister of justice and the prosecutor-general to find a way to strike off the imprisonment penalty for journalists. The council, however, is not bound by the decisions of the committee.
The committee also said that some syndicate members will convey their opposition to the People's Assembly, the Shura Council, the cabinet and the presidency of the republic. At the same time, the committee resolved to collect signatures from all segments of society under the slogan 'No to the imprisonment of journalists.' The newspaper Al-Shaab has already published more than 100 signatures, which appeared on its back page last Tuesday together with photographs of the three jailed Al-Shaab journalists, who were shown with their hands in manacles.
Opposition parties, feeling that it is their newspapers that are being targeted, have joined in with the journalists and held a rally for the same cause last Friday. Although party leaders, with the exception of Labour chairman Ibrahim Shukri, were not present, their representatives attended. A consensus was reached on the necessity of releasing the imprisoned journalists and cancelling the freedom- restricting provisions of the law.
The headlines of Al-Shaab and Al-Ahrar newspapers are ignoring international and national developments and focusing on the imprisonment issue. In an editorial last week, Al-Ahrar said that the "curse of the press does not carry less weight than the curse of the Pharaohs." And Al-Shaab asked the often raised question: "Until when will this aggression on the freedom of expression and the rights of the opposition continue?"
Under the Press Law of 1996, libel is punishable by a maximum of one year in jail and/or a fine of between LE1,000 and LE5,000. If the victim of the libel is a public official or if the case relates to public duties, the maximum penalty is two years and/or a fine of between LE5,000 and LE20,000.
