Egypt's Middle East News Agency [3] (MENA) announced on Nov. 11 that Judge Hisham Genina and two journalists will be prosecuted for allegedly insulting other judges. Genina gave an interview to Moammed el-Sanhouri, a reporter for Al-Masry Al-Youm [4] daily in 2012, in which the judge accused the head of the Egyptian Judges' Club [5], a social club for jurists, of corruption. Both the judge and the reporter are now being charged with libel, along with the news publication's Chief Editor Magdi el-Galad.
Egypt has previously been sharply criticized [6] for laws giving the government and security services the authority to censor the media. In 2010, Egypt issued new media restrictions [7] that critics say effectively put all live television media, including talk shows and news shows, under government control. Earlier that month, Ibrahim Eissa [8], editor-in-chief and creator of the private daily paper Al-Dustour [9], was fired [10] after he published an op-ed piece by opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei. In 2008, Eissa was convicted for spreading "rumors" [11] about the health of Egyptian President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak in an August 2007 report. Egypt's Abbaseyya Appeals Court upheld the conviction [12] in 2008.
From Jurist [13], Nov. 11. Used with permission.
