Egyptian journalist fined for libel

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2012/jun/21/press-freedom-egypt

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An Egyptian journalist has been fined for defamation after calling for changes to the editorial staff of Egypt's state-run newspapers.

Hanan Youssef, deputy editor of the local newspaper Al-Messa, was fined £1,000 for libelling the paper's former editor Khaled Imam. She claimed that many Egyptian news outlets included staff members who maintained links to the ruling military regime, but she did not mention Imam by name.

Youssef has been supportive of the revolution and written critical articles about the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). She plans to appeal against the sentence.

Al-Messa is run by Dar Al-Tahrir, a state-owned publishing company.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the legal action, saying that journalists who speak out against the military regime should not be prosecuted and harassed.

Two bloggers critical of the regime - Mikael Nabil Sanad and Alaa Abd el-Fattah - have been jailed. Others have been charged with "insulting the armed forces."

Last weekend, Marwa Nasser, a freelance journalist and translator for several English-language online news publications, was briefly detained while conducting interviews in front of a Cairo polling station. She was arrested for "suspicious behaviour."

<em>Source:</em> CPJ