CAIRO: The Cairo Appeals Court overturned a one-year jail sentence and upheld a LE 20,000 fine for each of the four newspaper editors convicted for insulting President Hosni Mubarak and defaming government officials. The four editors of opposition and independent newspapers received a one-year jail sentences and a LE 20,000 fine in September 2007 after the court found them guilty of "publishing false information likely to disturb public order. The case was brought by two lawyers affiliated with the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) against Adel Hamouda, editor of the weekly Al-Fagr, Wael Al-Ibrashi, of the weekly Sawt Al-Umma, Abdel Halim Qandil, former editor of the weekly Al-Karama, and Ibrahim Eissa, editor of the daily Al-Dostour. When contacted by Daily News Egypt, Hammouda refused to comment on the verdict. I have no comment.. I don t want to comment, he said. The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) said punishing the journalists was a black stain on the government and called for the verdict to be overturned. "The Egyptian government is notorious for its human rights record and for its hostility to press freedom in particular, said an ANHRI statement, "We believe in the solidarity of civil society to support the journalists, and stand by the people s right to knowledge and to express their opinions. "If the National Democratic Party and its hypocritical lawyers want to deny us the right to independent journalism, we will remain equally determined to support freedom of the press and the journalists who report their opinions. Yehia Al-Alash, secretary general of the Journalists' Syndicate had previously told Daily News Egypt that nobody has the right to file a lawsuit on behalf of a political group or public political figure of authority. The four journalists were tried at a time when several other editors and journalists were also taken to court. On Oct. 8, 2007, numerous opposition and independent newspapers participated in a non-publishing day in solidarity with their convicted colleagues. The People s Assembly had debated scrapping jail sentences to journalists from the publishing offenses law, but NDP members voted against it despite fervent objections by opposition currents in parliament. In a separate case, Eissa was sentenced in March to six months in prison for reporting on rumors about the president s health. The sentence was later reduced to two months and then scrapped when he received a pardon directly from President Mubarak in October 2008.
