Libel conviction underscores lack of press freedoms, say activists

Activists condemned the recent sentencing of newspaper journalist Amira Malash to one year in prison for libel, citing earlier government promises that prison sentences for press-related offences would be abolished. “The nature of Malash’s trial and conviction indicates that talk of growing press freedom over recent months has been misconstrued,” said Ahmed al-Sayyid, spokesperson for regional NGO Arab Press Freedom Watch. Malash, a journalist for independent weekly Al-Fagr, was tried and sentenced in absentia at a 7 March court hearing that lasted only eight minutes, according to the newspaper’s editor-in-chief Adel Hammouda. The libel lawsuit was filed by Attia Awad, an Alexandrian court judge who Malash had reported on last year in connection with a bribery scandal. While Awad’s connection to the corruption scandal was never confirmed, Malash insisted that she had received the information from official sources. The reporter currently remains free on bail, pending the appeal of her sentence. In 2004, President Hosni Mubarak announced he would push for the reform of laws governing the press, long decried as oppressive by critics. Most importantly, the president vowed to abolish prison sentences for press-related offences, such as libel. While the declaration received hearty praise from the Journalists’ Syndicate at the time, activists say there has been little legislative change since. “Analysts who had predicted greater freedom for reporters have been proved wrong,” said al-Sayyid. “Recent months of relative calm on the press front were merely coincidental. There are dozens of charges against journalists waiting to be heard in court.” Libel laws have been at the forefront of public discussion recently, particularly after last week’s sentencing of Abdel Nasser al-Zuheiri, a journalist for independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, to one year in prison. Even though former Housing Minister Mohamed Ibrahim Suleiman, who initially sued the reporter for libel, dropped charges on 5 March, al-Zuheiri’s sentence has not been revoked. According to al-Sayyid, the threat of imprisonment for press offences ultimately serves to diminish the quality of Egyptian journalism in general. “Such laws have a negative effect, not only on journalists, but also on the reporting they produce,” said al-Sayyid. “There needs to be a greater atmosphere of openness so that journalists can work more freely, and so that more objective reporting can be produced.” In February, Cairo-based Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR) reiterated its call for the annulment of prison sentences for journalistic offences. "The EOHR calls upon President Mubarak to fulfil the promise he made two years ago concerning the annulling of prison sentences in publication cases," read a statement from the organisation.