CAIRO: The Cairo-based Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) announced on Tuesday that it is beginning publication of a new series of simplified legal booklets titled “The Guide in Publishing Cases” as an attempt to educate the public on cases brought against journalists, writers and bloggers over what they have written. The first pamphlet to be issued covers insult and libel crimes, the organization said. The small, pocket-size booklet has been prepared by the Legal Aid Unit for Freedom of Expression Support within ANHRI. According to a press statement from the pan-Arab rights group, “it includes extensive legal explanations concerning insult and libel and all relevant penal code articles.” The goal is to give writers, journalists and bloggers the ability to understand the laws being used against them. In the past week, two leading human rights activists, Hisham Mubarak Law Center head Ahmed Seif, ANHRI's Executive Director Gamal Eid and prominent blogger Amr Gharbeya have all found themselves in court over charges of defaming Egypt. The pamphlets come at a vital time in Egypt, with election season beginning this summer with the Shura Council, or Upper House of Parliament, the People's Assembly this fall and a presidential vote next year. ANHRI said the booklets show “defendants how to defend themselves since being notified of the case as well as the arguments that they could use in the court.” Hamdy al-Assiouty, a legal counselor at ANHRI's Legal Aid Unit for Freedom of Expression Support said ”in such an atmosphere and under a government where hostility to freedom of expression prevails and where the penal code is crammed with articles that not only criminalize opinion and criticism, but intentions, presumptions and indications as well, we find it necessary to issue this legal awareness series, to help journalists, bloggers and writers protect and defend themselves to reduce prosecutions against them.” Following on this sentiment, Rawda Ahmed, head of the Legal Aid Unit added that “despite having lawyers specialized in publication cases at the Legal Aid Unit, and despite having legal advisors for most of the Egyptian newspapers, yet the number of cases is beyond capacity, especially outside Cairo. “So we basically intend to distribute this series on bloggers and journalists in rural areas,” Ahmed continued. The series will be bi-weekly and pdf versions will be available online. BM
