Media News - Thursday, March 27, 2008

Egypt editor given six-month sentence for Mubarak rumours

Outspoken Egyptian editor Ibrahim Eissa was sentenced to six months in jail on Wednesday for writing rumours about President Hosni Mubarak's health, prompting rights groups to call for the law to be changed. Eissa, editor-in-chief of Al-Dustur, was charged with spreading ‘false information... damaging the public interest and national stability’ and had faced up to three years in prison. He can appeal the sentence. The charge against Eissa stemmed from accusations that his reports on Mubarak's health last August led investors to pull their money out of Egypt. Eissa was accused of harming Egypt's economy after the rumours allegedly caused foreign investors to withdraw investments worth more than USD 350m from the stock exchange. Speculation about Mubarak was widely reported in Egypt's independent press and included reports of his hospitalisation, travel abroad for treatment and even death. At least seven journalists were sentenced in September alone to up to two years in prison on charges ranging from misquoting the justice minister to spreading rumours about 79-year-old Mubarak. The crackdown prompted 23 papers in October to suspend publication for one day in protest. (AFP)

Bookmark this : | Listen to this article | Sphere: Related Content

• Home |
• Seminars  |
• Events |
• Media Landscape |
• Newsroom|
• Media News|
• Resources

Terms of service and Privacy policy.

Copyright © 1992-2007 European Journalism Centre. All rights reserved.

Valid XHTML and CSS.

European Journalism Centre

Sonneville-lunet 10
6221KT Maastricht
The Netherlands

Tel. : +31 43 325 40 30
Fax : +32 2 400 42 20

E-mail: info[at]ejc.net