4 - 10 January 2001
Issue No.515
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 4 - 10 January 2001 Issue No.515 |
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Editor out of jail
Among the 1,100 prisoners who benefited last week from an annual presidential pardon in honour of Eid Al-Fitr was the prison-weary Magdi Hussein, editor-in-chief of the suspended Islamist newspaper Al-Shaab. Shuttled home directly from prison -- without the odious routines and procedures typically involved -- Hussein told Al-Ahram Weekly that he credits the efforts of Press Syndicate Chairman Ibrahim Nafie for arranging his release and his smooth transition back to freedom.
Magdi Hussein
Along for the ride was Al-Shaab journalist Salah Bedeiwi, who was convicted with Hussein and cartoonist Essam Hanafi for libelling Deputy Prime Minister and Agriculture Minister Youssef Wali. President Mubarak usually chooses Islamic feasts and national occasions to release prisoners who have served half of their terms.
Hussein, Bedeiwi and Hanafi were initially sentenced in August 1999 to the maximum penalty of two years in jail and a fine of LE20,000. Adel Hussein, a leading Al-Shaab writer was only fined the LE20,000. Al-Shaab, mouthpiece of the now-frozen Labour Party, had for months accused Wali, who is also secretary-general of the ruling National Democratic Party, of "treason" for supporting normalisation with Israel. Hussein and Bedeiwi were taken to prison, but Hanafi went on the run.
Four months later, in December 1999, the Court of Cassation, Egypt's highest criminal tribunal, quashed the rulings and ordered a re-trial, which automatically meant the release of the two defendants from prison. In April, another court confirmed the two-year jail terms against Hussein and Bedeiwi, and reduced Hanafi's sentence to one year. The three journalists were again taken to prison and further appeals became useless after the Court of Cassation approved the rulings two months later.
During their term in prison, Al-Shaab resumed its heated campaigns against top government officials. The target this time was Culture Minister Farouk Hosni. The newspaper demanded Hosni's resignation after the ministry reprinted the controversial novel A Banquet for Seaweed, by Syrian writer Haidar Haidar, which the Islamist-oriented paper condemned as blasphemous and insulting to Islam. The situation became critical when students at Al-Azhar University, incited by the Al-Shaab's articles, staged violent demonstrations, resulting in clashes with police.
Citing internal splits in the Labour Party's leadership, the government-controlled Political Parties Committee, which licenses political parties, ordered the suspension of Al-Shaab in May. The committee also ordered the investigation of alleged irregularities committed by the party's leadership, including the allegation that the party had become a front for the outlawed Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood. Two months later, the same committee asked the Political Parties Tribunal to dissolve the Labour Party. It remains frozen until the tribunal takes a decision.
Despite spending 13 months behind bars, Hussein says he fully backed Al-Shaab's campaign against Haidar's novel, adding that he would have "run it almost in the same way," had he been in charge. He argued that the government's reaction was "exaggerated," and claimed that the campaign was successful and had great popular support. "Al-Azhar backed our opinion that the novel was blasphemous," Hussein told the Weekly. "Many people were as angry as we were to find that public money was being used to print books that insult our religion and the Prophet Mohamed."
Claiming that the closure of Al-Shaab and the Labour Party had dimensions beyond the campaign against A Banquet for Seaweed, Hussein suggested that his release could herald the re-appearance of Al-Shaab. Elected in late 1999 to the 12-member Press Syndicate council and head of its Freedoms Committee, Hussein says that he will seek the support of other political forces in persuading the government to allow the paper's return.
"In my opinion, the decision was linked more to the recent parliamentary elections and the attempt to deprive certain candidates [Islamists] from having a mouthpiece," Hussein said. "Now that the elections are over, perhaps the time is ripe to reconsider this decision, especially since there have been several court rulings in our favour stating that newspapers cannot be closed down by administrative orders. Hopefully, we will see Al-Shaab back in a month or two."
Hussein is no newcomer to incarceration. Asked how he spent his time in prison, he said that reading was his main pastime, an opportunity he seemed to even relish. "Whenever I go to prison, I ask to be kept in a cell on my own, so that I can read regularly -- something I cannot do as much as when I am outside." He added proudly: "I can say that I finished reading nearly half the prison's library, in addition to the books brought to me from outside."
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