CAIRO: Editor-in-Chief of Democracy magazine and Al-Ahram journalist Hala Mustafa won a damages lawsuit she had filed against independent daily newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm for libel.
Mustafa came under severe criticism from the Egyptian press last year after hosting then-Israeli Ambassador Shalom Cohen in her office at Al-Ahram. Additionally, she was investigated and reprimanded by the Journalists’ Syndicate last February.
However, Mustafa was offended by a series of articles Al-Masry Al-Youm published, deeming the articles to be personal attacks against her character rather than objective journalistic reporting.
“I submitted a complaint to the public prosecutor against Al-Masry Al-Youm over articles that contained personal attacks [that] went beyond … objective or political criticisms over my meeting the Israeli Ambassador in my office at Al-Ahram,” Mustafa told Mehwar television show “90 Minutes.”
A year after the incident, the Sayeda Zeinab Misdemeanors Court fined Al-Masry Al-Youm Editor Magdy Al-Galad LE 15,000, and Al-Masry Al-Youm journalists Osama Gharib, Bilal Fadl, Hala Tawfik and Samir Samuel LE 10,000 each in damages caused by the defamation of Mustafa’s character.
Mustafa praised the Egyptian judiciary in her interview, lauding its impartiality. She also added that she wasn’t against any criticism of the incident itself.
“Of course objective criticism is totally acceptable,” Mustafa said. “I respect Al-Masry Al-Youm and its editor, but this was a personal attack … the words and phrases used in the [newspaper’s] articles fall under the umbrella of the law.”
Cohen’s visit to Mustafa’s office in Sept. 2009 spurred an especially large amount of controversy, as the Egyptian Journalists Association has an anti-normalization policy in its dealings with Israel. As a result, Mustafa was severely criticized by many media outlets for the Ambassador’s visit.
Mustafa stated that her superiors at Al-Ahram had not objected to her meeting with the Israeli Ambassador, and added that — at the time — many Egyptian journalists were meeting with Israeli representatives.
