CAIRO: A court sentenced an Egyptian newspaper editor to one year in jail on Wednesday for having published his paper without a permit from the press council, the state-run MENA news agency reported.
Ahmed Bakr Selim was granted bail on a surety of LE 10,000 pending any appeal against the decision of the Cairo court, which accused him of unlawfully distributing and publishing the Al-Qahira Al-Youm newspaper.
The sentence was handed down after the Cairo court heard a complaint against Selim from a rival newspaper editor, who accused him of defamation, and found that Selim had not obtained a license to publish the newspaper.
Publishing licenses in Egypt are granted by the Supreme Press Council, which is part of the upper house of parliament and dominated by members of the ruling party.
The council has granted more licenses to independent newspapers in recent years. Human rights groups, however, have criticized the government for not abolishing laws that allow for the jailing of journalists in publishing cases. -Agencies
