CAIRO- A Criminal Court south of Cairo Sunday deferred to September 19 the trial of the editor of an independent newspaper over his writings against a newly endorsed real estate tax law, which prompted the Minister of Finance to sue him. "The trial of journalist Wael el-Ibrashi, the editor-in-chief of Sawt Al-Umah independent newspaper, will resume on September 19," the court said on Sunday. El-Ibrashi, his defence team, and dozens of journalists and human rights activists attended the session where they urged Minister of Finance Youssef Botrous Ghali to drop the case, which they described as a "grievous error". Some other activists and journalists staged a protest outside the Supreme Court building in central Cairo declaring their solidarity with el-Ibrashi. The Egyptian Press Syndicate also announced support for the journalist, whose supporters say he did not exceed the limits of his job as a seeker of truth with a mission to spread accurate information. "The Syndicate announces its full support of Wael el-Ibrashi, who was defending the interests of millions of Egyptians against the real estate tax," read a statement from the union, a copy of which was obtained by The Gazette yesterday. El-Ibrashi had published a series of articles rejecting the controversial real estate tax law. He then published an opinion poll saying that Egyptians had never accepted such a new tax. His stories prompted Minister Ghali to file a lawsuit against him, accusing the journalist of inciting people to reject paying the tax. The Prosecutor General referred the case to the criminal court in an unprecedented move as this type of lawsuit is usually referred to the court of misdemeanours. Egyptian journalists have been pushing for revoking jail penalties in publishing cases.
