|
Cairo: A court ruling that put an outspoken critic of President Hosni Mubarak in prison has galvanised the media in Egypt against jail terms as punishment for publishing reports about Mubarak's health.
A Cairo court had on Sunday sentenced Ebrahim Eisa, the editor of the independent daily Al Dustur, to two months in jail on charges of spreading rumours about Mubarak's health last year.
The rumours had "harmed national interests" and resulted in the economy losing out on investments worth $350 million (Dh1.28 billion), the court held.
Irreversible ruling
The ruling is irreversible, according to legal experts.
"This ruling is the latest in a crackdown by the authorities on freedom of the press in Egypt," said Salah Abdul Maqsoud, an Islamist and a board member of the Egyptian Press Syndicate.
"It totally contradicts the promise made by President Hosni Mubarak five years ago to cancel jail punishment in publishing cases," Maqsoud told Gulf News.
In recent years, local courts have sentenced 11 journalists to varying terms in prison for publishing offences. Eisa himself was last year sentenced to one year's imprisonment, along with three other editors of opposition newspapers, for slandering senior officials of the ruling National Democratic Party, including Mubarak.
Unfazed by sentence
"This ruling opens the gates of hell to the Egyptian press as it heralds more such sentencing in the near future," Eisa said in remarks published yesterday. He said he would turn himself in to the police and would "not flee".
"Even before Eisa expressed his view on the rumours about Mubarak's health, the rumours had already spread like wild fire in Egypt," said Jamal Fahmi, the chief of the Press Syndicate's Freedoms Committee.
"The concerned state agencies should have come forward at the time with a clear statement setting the record straight on the President's health condition. The case also reflects the difficulty faced by Egyptian journalists in gaining access to information."
Fahmi said the Press Syndicate, an independent professional union, would "wholeheartedly support" Eisa in order to get the ruling revoked.
Protests
The union has appealed to the country's chief prosecutor to suspend the enforcement of the ruling. "This ruling will heavily damage Egypt's name abroad," said the Press Syndicate in a statement, adding it plans protests against it. Opposition groups have said they will join in these protests.
|
