Two journalists imprisoned for libel

Reporters Without Borders today protested against the imprisonment yesterday of newspaper editor Mustapha Bakri and his brother and fellow journalist Mahmoud Bakri after an appeal court upheld their conviction and one-year prison sentences for libel. "We call for the immediate release of these journalists, who could be fined if they have broken the law but should under no circumstances be sentenced to prison," Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard said. "At a time when Egypt wants to establish a human rights council and there is talk of doing away with the state security courts, it does the country's image a great deal of harm to imprison journalists for press crimes," Ménard said. Ménard pointed out that the UN special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Abid Hussain, called on all governments on 18 January 2000 "to ensure that press crimes are no longer subject to prison sentences except for crimes such as racist or discriminatory comments or appeals for violence." Hussain said the imposition of a prison sentence for the peaceful expression of opinion "constitutes a serious violation of human rights." Mustapha Bakri is the editor of the weekly Al Ousbou and his brother is a journalist with the same newspaper. An appeal court on 1 June upheld the one-year prison sentences passed on them three years ago. They are being held in Tora prison, south of Cairo. They were convicted of libelling Mohammed Abdel Al, head of the opposition Social Justice Party and editor of the newspaper Al-Watan Al-Arabi, on the grounds that they accused him of corruption without offering any evidence. Abdel Al was himself sentenced to 10 years in prison by the high court of state security on 25 May for taking bribes from businessmen in return for a promise never to criticise them in his newspaper.