CAIRO: A sentenced female reporter’s case is still unfolding as the Egyptian court that indicted her refused her lawyers’ plea for appeal on Thursday, a move that provoked criticism from fellow Egyptian journalists, writers and editors.
“It is not like I committed a major offense or killed a man, said Amira Malash, the young Al-Fajr reporter who recently received the one-year sentence for libel. “It is just a news story. Why do they (the judiciary) consider it a criminal act?
Malash was sentenced for printing the name of a court judge who was accused of corruption in an Alexandria court case last July. Even though press coverage was allowed during court sessions and it was only a news story, the act of publishing in Malash’s case was considered a “slander and libel issue, according to Egyptian press laws.
The sentence the reporter received was considered mandatory by members of the judiciary; hopes of appeal or release on bail were immediately crushed. Nevertheless, on Thursday, Malash’s attorneys insisted that they had a right to take her case to cassation. Their request, however, was instantly denied by the Egyptian court in question.
According to Malash, the judge reviewing her case was “hostile and “apparently angry at reporters. Malash, who left the Giza courthouse only minutes before the sentence was pronounced, claimed it “was clear from the start that the judge had intended to indict her, even before her lawyers had a chance to defend her case.
“I believe [the court judge] gave me this sentence in sympathy with his colleague, Malash had told The Daily Star Egypt shortly following the announcement of the prison term. The Giza court reportedly denied lawyers’ requests to add the Alexandria corruption case’s tribunal investigation report to Malash’s case, “genuine evidence that she did not make up the printed accusations against the formerly investigated judge.
Dozens of human rights reports, letters and complaints petitioning the sentences were sent to the Cairo prosecutor’s office and the Ministry of Justice.
Protesting journalists, sitting-in in front of the press syndicate Wednesday, claimed that the danger of prosecution is at hand as long as an “unfair [press] law repressing journalists is present.
According to an annual Egypt statement issued by the Parisian rights group Reporters Without Borders, “Egyptian journalists are often forced to censor themselves [because of a] 1996 press law [that] allows prison sentences for libel, ‘insults’ and ‘putting out false news’.
For many years, media lawyers and editors have constantly filed requests to abolish the aforementioned press law. President Hosni Mubarak had responded by promising “absolute freedom for the press and an amendment of the law in question in several of his public statements last year.
“Despite Mubarak s promise in September to work with the next People s Assembly to ‘endorse the needed amendments’ to introduce legislation that would decriminalize press offenses, many journalists and human rights defenders agree that the road to press freedom and protection of journalists in Egypt remains long and arduous, said a recent report published by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
Indeed, the fact remains that official promises have not yet been put into motion; Malash’s case, for many observers, constitutes a live testimony.
“Freezing the sentence of Amira Malash is a first on our agenda, said Wael Abdel-Fatah, a writer and editor at the independent Sawt Al-Umma. Abdel-Fatah was one of the editors who met Wednesday evening at the press syndicate to discuss ways to exert pressure on officials to change their “rather aggressive stance towards reporters.
“Amira is only in her early twenties, said Abdel-Fatah. “She is the first reporter in her generation to be facing such a sentence; to be endangered as such. She is so close to going to prison.
“Her case does not even involve politics, added the veteran writer, whom Malash described as “a major sympathizer to her cause.
Supportive editors and journalists signed a petition on Wednesday, which was then sent to human rights groups, the prosecutor general and different newspapers.
“It is a first that even national and state-owned newspapers join [independent and opposition journalists] in their stand. Al-Ahram . Rose Al-Youssef . they all signed the petition.
According to Abdel-Fatah, journalists “now feel the real danger that is facing them. If the political and state organizations continue to intimidate journalists, the press industry itself will fall apart, said Abdel-Fatah.
“It is total chaos, he said, referring to the condition of journalists and publishers in Egypt. “It seems as if all state officials have decided to throttle journalists. The idea of a free press scares them; they’re afraid that their corruption would be revealed . so they want to crush any possibility of a free press.
However, even when the press is relatively free, said the editor, corruption is always far greater than what the newspapers report.
“In Egypt, there are no legal, direct or official channels by which a reporter can obtain information. It is already hard to verify information and verbal claims of news sources, said Abdel-Fatah. “Now Egypt’s courts have put journalists in a harder position; a journalist should get information from sources, verify it and attest it in court if necessary.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s press council is scheduled to convene next Friday and resolutions concerning Malash’s case are expected. Concerned editors and writers have already requested to meet with Sawfat Al-Sharif, head of the Shura Council and press council chairman, in order to press him to intervene.
In her latest statement to The Daily Star Egypt, Malash said that she “only wants to be free, at least for now; her case can be reviewed or appealed later.
“I just want to stay with my family, said the reporter, who left home in fear of being arrested. “I need my family’s support. All I want is my sentence to be frozen so I can walk the streets freely.
