**Updates IFEX alerts dated 24 May 1996, 16 June and 29 May 1995** On 9 June 1996, the Shura Council (the upper house of the Egyptian parliament) passed a new press bill which failed to adopt any of the major revisions demanded by Egyptian journalists. The foremost of those demands was the repeal of the […]
**Updates IFEX alerts dated 24 May 1996,
16 June and 29 May 1995**
On 9 June 1996, the Shura Council (the upper house of the
Egyptian parliament) passed a new press bill which failed to
adopt any of the major revisions demanded by Egyptian
journalists. The foremost of those demands was the repeal of the
notorious Law 93 of 1995, a series of amendments to the Penal
Code that sharply increased the penalties for so-called crimes of
publication and expanded the scope of punishable offences.
While some of the punishments mandated by Law 93 were reduced in
the new bill, the basic principles remain unchanged. Journalists
may be sentenced to prolonged imprisonment and heavy fines for
their writing. The bill describes offences in vague language and
includes articles that prohibit publishing news which “abuses
public officials,” “insults the parliament, the army, courts,
authorities, or public agencies,” “vilifies foreign heads of
state,” “insults the president of the republic,” or “damages the
nation’s reputation.”
On 12 June, the board of the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate
resigned in protest of the Shura Council’s passage of the bill.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
violations of Article 19 of the United Nations Universal
Declaration of Human Rights
new press bill, and asking that he undertake to repeal Law 93
demands of journalists for protecting their rights to practise
their profession freely
Appeals To
His Excellency Mohammad Hosni Mubarak
President of the Arab Republic of Egypt
Oruba Palace
Heliopolis, Cairo, Egypt
Fax: +202 260 5417
Farouk Seif al-Naser
Minister of Justice
Lazoghly Square
Mounira, Cairo, Egypt
Fax: +202 355 5700
Please copy appeals to the originator if possible.
