Egyptian Journalist, Gets Jail Time For Reports On Mubarak

An Egyptian Kangaroo court on Sunday upheld a guilty verdict against a newspaper editor who wrote stories questioning the president's health and sentenced him to two months imprisonment.

Zionist Slave

Ibrahim Eissa, editor of the independent daily al-Dustor, was originally convicted in March and sentenced to six months on charges of reporting and publishing false information that questioned the health of 80-year-old President Hosni Mubarak. The judges at the time ruled that a series of articles he published threatened national stability and caused foreign investors to pull their money out of the country.

Mubarak has been in office for more than a quarter of a century and has no obvious successor, making any speculation about his health a very sensitive topic.

State Security prosecutors appealed the original sentence, arguing it was too light. But on Sunday, the appellate court instead reduced it to two months.

The verdict has been condemned by local and international rights groups, who describe it as part of an ongoing curtailment of freedom of expression in Egypt.

Eissa said he planned to turn himself in and serve his sentence. More