ibrahim-eissa

New York, February 22, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns an Egyptian court’s verdict sentencing an Egyptian Internet writer to four years in prison for his online criticisms. The case represents the first time that an Egyptian blogger has stood trial and been sentenced for his work.

Abdel Karim Suleiman, who goes by the online moniker Karim Amer, was today convicted of insulting Islam and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. A criminal court in the northern city of Alexandria sentenced him to four years in prison, according to international news reports.

The Egyptian Journalists Syndicate mounted a widespread campaign to pressure President Hosni Mubarak to fulfill a February 2004 promise to decriminalize press offenses. More than 20 newspapers went on strike for a day in July as part of the campaign, which many journalists credit with the last-minute deletion of a controversial amendment to the penal code. Mubarak removed a provision that would have stipulated prison sentences of up to three years for journalists who defamed public officials by alleging corruption. The provision was aimed at silencing independent and opposition newspapers that had increasingly carried reports on corruption scandals and influence peddling that allegedly involved high-ranking state officials and Mubarak’s son and heir apparent, Gamal Mubarak.

New York, July 12, 2006— The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by Egypt’s newly amended press law that fails to honor a promise by President Hosni Mubarak to abolish prison for press offenses. The law also sharply increases fines for defamation.

The amendments lift some minor restrictions on the media but still mandate prison sentences for journalists convicted of insulting the president and foreign heads of state. The National Assembly, which is controlled by Mubarak’s National Democratic Party, passed the bill after a last-minute intervention by the President to drop a clause stipulating jail terms for journalists who defamed public officials with allegations of corruption.

New York, June 26, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores today’s decision by an Egyptian court to sentence two journalists to a year in prison for publishing a report critical of President Hosni Mubarak, his family, and other top officials.

The court in Al-Warrak, north of Giza, sentenced Ibrahim Eissa, editor of the independent weekly Al-Dustour, and Sahar Zaki, a reporter for the paper, to a year in prison for insulting Mubarak, the newspaper said in a statement today. The journalists, who were not present for the verdict, are free on bail of 10,000 Egyptian pounds pending appeal.