4 Egyptian editors convicted for spreading false rumors

An Egyptian court last week sentenced four editors in chief from various independent newspapers to one year prison terms with hard labor, Almasry-alyoum.com reported on September 14.

According to the article, the charges against the editors involved “slandering and publishing false news about the President – who is also an NDP leader – and offending party symbols and members,” including President Hosni Mubarak’s son Gamal, as well as Dr. Ahmed Nazif and Dr. Zakaria Azmi.

The court justified the sentence by asserting that, according to the article, “individual freedom of publishing news of public interest is not absolute, but indeed limited by the society’s right to defend its own interests. One of them is having true news about anything concerning the public, while publishing false news and calumnies could mislead public opinion.”

The court also added that what was published was not intended to serve public interest and therefore those accused must be punished for spreading lies.

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