Thursday, Nov 27, 2008
Gulf News
Cairo: The editor of an opposition newspaper, who will stand trial for breaching a court order on reporting about the murder trial of an Egyptian business mogul, is worried that the move is aimed at curbing freedom of the press.
"By choosing to refer editors from two respectable newspapers to court over the alleged violation of the ban, the authorities apparently sought to send a message to all other publications," Abbas Al Treibili, chief editor of Al Wafd, the mouthpiece of the liberal Al Wafd Party, said.
Al Treibili and four other journalists will appear in court on December 4 to face charges of violating a media blackout ordered by a criminal court hearing the murder case of Lebanese singer Suzan Tamim involving Hesham Tala'at Moustafa, one of Egypt's top real estate developers.
"The report for which we are prosecuted featured a testimony given by a witness earlier in investigations and published before the whole case was handed over to the criminal court," Al Treibili told Gulf News. "Other newspapers, including the State-owned ones, carried the same report."
On November 16 the presiding judge of the Criminal Court in southern Cairo banned media from carrying details about the high-profile case, citing "attempts to influence public opinion". He also asked prosecutors to vet three books published on the case, with one of them pleading innocence for Moustafa. The court allowed media to carry only its announced decisions, including the final verdict.
Two journalists from Al Wafd and three from the influential independent newspaper Al Masri Al Youm, including the latter's chief editor Majdi Al Jalad, are accused of violating the ban.
The offence is punishable by one year in jail and a minimum fine of 5,000 pounds ($905 or about Dh3,300).
Moustafa, a senior politician in President Hosni Mubarak, is charged with ordering Mohsin Al Sukari, an ex-policeman, to kill Suzan Tamim in return for $2 million (about Dh7.3 million). Suzan was found dead in her luxury apartment in Dubai on July 28. The court is due to resume the hearings on December 20.
Gulf News 2008. All rights reserved.
