New York, October 15, 2008--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns an Egyptian court's decision on Saturday to levy steep fines against an editor and reporter for an independent weekly that published a satirical piece about a prominent cleric.
New York, October 6, 2008―The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the presidential pardon today of a two-month jail sentence against Ibrahim Eissa, editor-in-chief of the independent daily Al-Dustour.
New York, September 29, 2008―The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the two-month jail term handed down by a Cairo appeal court to a leading Egyptian editor on Sunday.
New York, September 26, 2008―The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the ongoing detention of a reporter for the independent daily Al-Dustour.
Hossam Al Wakeel, 20, was arrested on Wednesday while covering protests that erupted after “the arbitrary closure” of the Al Jazeera School in the Al Ajami district in Alexandria, his lawyer, Khalaf Bayyoumi, told CPJ. His camera was also confiscated. (The school is unrelated to the media outlet.)
Many in
The detainees, among them scores of the country's most prominent lawyers, academics, and journalists, were charged with fomenting sedition and undermining the regime's stability and violating its "Law of Shame," which made it illegal to spread rumors likely to damage the state.
Four editors are due to appear before two Cairo appeal courts
later this month for defaming President Hosni Mubarak and his top aides and spreading
rumors about the aging president's health. Surely, they must have in the back
of their minds the ominous crackdown on the media and political dissenters that
helped lead
April 8, 2008
Mr. Amin Bassiouni
Chairman
Nilesat
P.O. Box 72
6th of October City, Egypt
Via Facsimile: +202 384 00 402
Dear Mr. Bassiouni,
The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to express its deep concern about your company's decision to stop carrying the signal of the London-based Al-Hiwar Television.
Nilesat, an Egyptian government-owned satellite transmission company, stopped carrying the channel on April 1 without warning or explanation, according to international news reports and Egypt-based journalists. The station remains accessible to viewers on the Atlantic Bird satellite system, according to news reports.
Leading independent editor sentenced to six months in jail
New York, March 26, 2008―The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the six-month jail term handed down today to a leading Egyptian editor and urges the appeals court to overturn the conviction.
The Boulak Abul Ela Court of Misdemeanor, on the outskirts of Cairo, sentenced Ibrahim Eissa, editor in chief of the independent daily Al-Dustour, to six months in prison for “publishing false information and rumors” about President Hosni Mubarak’s health. The court said the articles were likely to disturb public security and harm the country’s economy. Eissa was forced to post 200 Egyptian Pounds (US$37) as bail to halt implementation of the court ruling until appeal.
New York, March 24, 2008―The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by an upcoming court ruling in Cairo that might send a leading Egyptian editor to prison. The ruling is expected on March 26.
Ibrahim Eissa, editor-in-chief of the daily Al-Dustour and one of Egypt’s top critics of President Hosni Mubarak’s 27-year rule, was charged under the Penal Code in September with publishing reports about Mubarak’s health that were “liable to disturb public security and damage public interest.” The case was first hastily submitted to the Emergency State Security Court, an exceptional tribunal that does not allow for appeals and rarely issues acquittals. But it was examined later by a Cairo misdemeanor court following a local and international outcry.
New York, March 24, 2008―The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by an upcoming court ruling in Cairo that might send a leading Egyptian editor to prison. The ruling is expected on March 26.
Ibrahim Eissa, editor-in-chief of the daily Al-Dustour and one of Egypt’s top critics of President Hosni Mubarak’s 27-year rule, was charged under the Penal Code in September with publishing reports about Mubarak’s health that were “liable to disturb public security and damage public interest.” The case was first hastily submitted to the Emergency State Security Court, an exceptional tribunal that does not allow for appeals and rarely issues acquittals. But it was examined later by a Cairo misdemeanor court following a local and international outcry.
Egyptian court upholds Al-Jazeera conviction; strikes down prison sentence
Cairo, February 11, 2008—An appeals court in Cairo today upheld the conviction of an Al-Jazeera journalist charged with harming Egypt’s reputation for her work on a documentary about torture, but struck down her prison term.
In a crowded courtroom in north Cairo, Judge Hazem Wageeh read a statement that upheld a count of “making or possessing pictures likely to harm the country’s reputation” but overturned the conviction of journalist Howayda Taha Matwali for spreading “false news.” The judge threw out the six-month prison sentence Matwali originally had been given in May, but upheld a 20,000 Egyptian pound (US$3,607) fine.
