Journalists are up in arms against Article 48 of the new political rights law. Salonaz Sami reports According to Article 48 of the new political rights law -- ratified by the People's Assembly two weeks ago and signed by President Hosni Mubarak on 2 July -- any journalist who publishes information that could negatively affect election results, referendums or candidates is subject to six-months imprisonment and a fine of up to LE5000. On Monday 4 July, a number of journalists started a hunger strike to protest the article. The protesters said they planned to continue their strike until their demands are met. "We'll do what it takes to get freedom of the press -- even if we starve to death," Manal Agramma of the monthly Radio and Television magazine told Al-Ahram Weekly. A day earlier, demonstrators had called for President Mubarak to guarantee that his February 2004 promise to eliminate imprisonment sentences for journalists would be fulfilled. Following the president's promise, the Press Syndicate formed a special committee composed of journalists and Justice Ministry officials to look into drafting a new press law that eliminates such jail terms. That draft, which was presented to the Cabinet three weeks ago, was to be referred to the People's Assembly for final approval. As journalists waited, they were caught unaware by the assembly's approval of the new law that features the even stricter Article 48. "It is very peculiar to include an article on freedom of expression and freedom of the press in a law concerning the exercise of political rights," Press Syndicate Council member Gamal Fahmi told the Weekly. "Article 48 prevents any criticism of the electoral process." Press Syndicate Chairman Galal Aref said journalists had been "slapped in the face" by the new law as they waited for the president's promise to be fulfilled. On Monday, dozens of journalists picketed the People's Assembly, holding banners that read, "Your reform condones imprisonment; ours advocates freedom." Surrounded by hundreds of security forces, the journalists stood quietly for close to two hours, their mouths gagged with pieces of black cloth. "We can't apply the same kind of pressure as the judges who threatened to boycott the supervision of the elections," Agramma said. "All we can do is protest peacefully and make sure our voices are heard." Nour El-Hoda Zaki of the Nasserist Party mouthpiece Al-Arabi wondered how journalists were supposed to "reflect people's frustrations when we are constantly threatened with imprisonment?" While the protest took place, Aref, along with journalists Hamdeen Sabahi and Mohamed Abdel-Alim (who are also MPs), and other members of the syndicate's council, held a meeting with Parliamentary Speaker Fathi Sorour and Shura Council Speaker Safwat El-Sherif to discuss their demands. Aref told the Weekly that "they both promised to take the necessary steps to ensure that the syndicate's draft law would be discussed in the current parliamentary session." Aref said journalists "shouldn't lose hope. Everything is possible; it is just like our fight back in 1995 to annul Law 93 [which also imposed harsh sentences on publishing offences]. We won it back then and we will win this one too." On Tuesday, El-Sherif released a statement indicating that the journalists' draft had yet to be forwarded to parliament, both of whose houses have already started their summer recess. Earlier last week, about 100 journalists gathered at the syndicate and attempted to march to parliament, but were stopped from doing so by the police. The day before, a group calling itself "Journalists for Change" held a conference at the Press Syndicate to discuss ways of moving the process to eliminate imprisonment offences forward. "The fight for the freedom of the press is a national struggle, because there will never be democracy as long as we don't have a free press," Fahmi said. Egypt is one of 14 countries that still allow the imprisonment of journalists, he said. Mustafa Bakry, editor of the weekly Al-Osbou' newspaper, said the president's promise did not materialise because no real pressure was applied on the government. "Maybe they want us to turn to Condoleezza Rice for help, but we wont do that. We are determined to earn our freedom on our own." As the paper went to press the journalists had ended their hunger strike upon a request by their council, which promised to pursue the issue with the concerned bodies. Meanwhile the council issued a statement expressing its anger at parliament for failing to deal with the journalists' demands prior to its summer recess.
