By Nadia Abou El-Magd
Cairo - An Egyptian court sentenced the leader of the main liberal opposition party as well as two journalists from party's daily to a month in prison for libel against two lawyers, court officials said on Sunday.
A judge in the southern city of Assiut sentenced Mahmoud Abaza, the prominent leader of Egypt's oldest political party, Al-Wafd, Anwar el-Hawari, the editor of the party's daily newspaper, and Younes Darwish, the daily's correspondent, to a month in prison with hard labour each.
The case is the latest in a series of rulings by judges that have sentenced nearly a dozen prominent journalists for libel to prison, though this is the first time an opposition leader has been convicted as well.
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International press freedom organisations have long criticised Egypt for giving prison sentences for libel convictions.
Their lawyer appealed the verdict and the three, who were not informed about the case and were convicted in absentia, remain free pending a new trial.
Abaza, who is a member of parliament and therefore has immunity, told reporters that he was shocked and appalled.
"How can they convict me in a case I had no idea about and ignore my parliament immunity?" he said.
In March, Al-Wafd daily published a story about two lawyers who bought land from the Ministry of Religious Endowments in an illegal secret auction. The lawyers, who are members of the ruling party, then sued the men for libel.
Journalists, activists and human rights group have complained of a new crackdown on the freedom of the press after a few years of relative openness.
"Until recently, the regime's attitude about freedom of the press was 'let the dogs bark', now it has turned into 'let's slaughter the dogs'," El-Hawari said. "The other development, is that they moved from jailing editors on to jailing publishers and heads of opposition parties."
Last month, the Bush administration gave an unusual public statement of discontent with the leadership in Egypt over the recent press convictions. White House press secretary Dana Perino said the recent measures "contradict the Egyptian government stated commitments to expand democratic rights".
Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said the next day that the statements were "unacceptable interference in Egypt's internal affairs". - Sapa-AP
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