CAIRO: An Egyptian court sentenced a newspaper editor who has repeatedly criticized President Hosni Mubarak to one year in jail on Monday for defaming the head of state, court sources said. They said Ibrahim Eissa, editor of the opposition weekly Al-Dustour newspaper, received a one year sentence for publishing an article in April detailing a lawsuit against the president and his family. That lawsuit had accused Mubarak of selling off state enterprises too cheaply and squandering foreign aid. Eissa s frontpage columns have regularly attacked both Mubarak, president since 1981, and his family. Two other defendants in Monday s defamation case, another Al-Dustour journalist and the man who filed the original lawsuit against Mubarak, also received one year jail terms. All three were to remain free on bail of LE 10,000 ($1,700) pending an appeal. The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights expressed concern over the ruling, saying that giving jail terms to journalists would shackle freedom of the press in Egypt. Mubarak pledged two years ago to work to abolish imprisonment for publishing offences, but the government has never asked parliament to amend the law. Egyptian journalists have staged several demonstrations asking the government to fulfill Mubarak s promise. Reuters
Editor jailed for defaming Mubarak
