President Mubarak has not kept his promises about press freedom

Reporters Without Borders today condemned the continued hounding of journalists in Egypt and called on President Hosni Mubarak to keep his pledge, made to parliament on 19 December, to allow press freedom. “Each year, President Mubarak announces that the authorities will stop their harassment of journalists,” the worldwide press freedom organisation said, “and each year such harassment increases. It is time the president kept his promises and decriminalised press offences as he said in 2004 he would.” Two journalists with the independent daily Al Fajr (Dawn), Mohamed Abdul-Latif and Manal Lasheen, were sentenced on 14 December to six and four years in prison respectively, and also fined, for writing last August that a cousin of MP Emad el-Gelda paid a man to serve a prison sentence in his place. The MP sued the journalists but they were not told about the case and only learned about their convictions from a newspaper report afterwards. They have now hired lawyers, paid bail and a new hearing has been set for next 15 February. Mona El-Tahawi, a columnist for the daily Al-Sharq Al Awsat, was summoned by state security officials on 22 December and interrogated about her coverage of the recent parliamentary elections. Ms Tahawi also writes for foreign newspapers, including the International Herald Tribune, and is thought to have been brought in as a warning because of her links with them.