Court Fines Four Editors, No Jail Time

An appeals court in Egypt reversed the sentence of four newspaper editors from one year in prison and a E£10,000 fine to a fine of E£20,000 each.
The editors Ibrahim Issa, Adel Hammouda, Wael el-Ebrashi and Abdel-Halim Qandil were accused of publishing articles that damaged the reputation of President Mubarak, his son and his governing National Democratic Party.

“The Egyptian government is notorious for its human rights record and for its hostility to press freedom in particular. we believe in the solidarity of the civil society to support the journalists, and stand by the peoples right to knowledge and to express their opinions," said a statement by the Arabic Network for Human Rights.

"The 2007 convictions also signaled an escalation of what political analysts describe as a campaign by the National Democratic Party against independent newspapers that have reported that President Hosni Mubarak is grooming his son Gamal to succeed him. Both father and son deny that," said the New York Times.