IHT/DSE: Parlimentarians maneuver to pass press law (press round-up)

By Pakinam Amer
First Published: July 11, 2006

CAIRO: Opposition and independent newspapers’ struggle against the controversial press bill continues. Front-page headlines feature slogans such as “The free press will never surrender” and “The July 9 Revolution,” referring to this Sunday when scores of reporters and pro-reform activists erupted in protest against the law.
“The new law slaughters journalists and protects corruption,” read one newspaper’s headline. “Down with freedom of press … hail corruption,” read a newspaper statement.
On its front page, Al-Masry Al-Youm ran a story accusing parliamentarian Ahmed Ezz and some 85 other upper house members of holding a secret meeting before Sunday’s session to rehearse their statements in reaction to the law. On Sunday, the parliament held its usual session and deemed the much-criticized law “ready to pass” despite journalists’ and press syndicate’s fierce campaign against it.
According to the daily newspaper, Ezz and his fellows, all National Democratic Party (NDP) members, reportedly agreed to present a unified front concerning passing certain articles of the law. According to the newspaper, they particularly stressed the importance of one article stating that a reporter faces the risk of imprisonment if he/she reports on the private property and funds of public figures.
“[Ezz] had urged the members to unite and form a parliamentarian bloc in order to pass the law in its current form, without amending the article on protection of private properties,” read the newspaper.
Although President Hosni Mubarak had promised a new law that protects journalists from jail, the debated amendments of the law confirmed prison sentences for reporters convicted of defamation charges and set fines as high as LE 30,000 in “libel and slander” cases. Many have seen the government-proposed law as “a blow to freedom of speech” in Egypt and a “step backward” from reform.
Al-Masry Al-Youm also carried the news of hundreds of Cairo University students who protested against Israeli raids in Gaza and the West Bank. The students, carrying banners supporting Hamas and denouncing Zionism, called for a boycott of American products, as the United States is a major ally of Israel. “Oh America … [Country] of freedom … See how many of us have died,” shouted some of the students.
On Sunday, Israeli artillery continued to attack Gaza, with the Israeli air force carrying out multiple raids on key areas in the city, with the Israeli Defense Forces believed to be responsible for an explosion in a house, killing three civilians. Qatar-based Al-Jazeera news channel broadcast graphic pictures including that of a child being carried away soaked in blood, after one of the raids.
The European Union condemned the Israeli offensive, with Premier Ehud Olmert rejecting their criticism. Some countries have also expressed their deep concern about the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian Authority, especially since the U.S. decision to cut off aid has already drained the country’s resources and left the Palestinians plagued by poverty.
Also in the news is the arrest of 27 Muslim Brotherhood members in the city of Ras El-Bar. According to IkhwanOnline, the group’s Internet mouthpiece, the police arrested the members at their homes and confiscated computers, compact discs, audio-visual equipment and even some personal belongings of the members during their raid. The members were transferred to Cairo state security police for interrogation and investigation, where they will be kept in custody for at least 15 days. Charges have not yet been pressed.
“This act adds up to the police’s history of throttling the innocent and the sons of this nation,” said Deputy to the Supreme Guide Mohammad Habib in response to the arrests. “This is only an example of shackling freedom and invading people’s privacy.”

Link: http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=2218