Ibrahim Eissa´s sentence reduced to two months

The Bulaq Abu al-Ella Misdemeanor Appeals Court issued a two months prison sentence to al Doustor´s editor in Chief , Ibrahim Eissa today. The verdict was an appeal of a six months prison sentence from March 26th 2008, and concerns articles published in August 2007 on the health of President Hosni Mubarak. He was brought to trial on charges of spreading false information, damaging public interest national stability. He could have been sentenced to a maximum of three years. Eissa was not in court today.

This story, as well as a number of other court cases featuring Ibrahim Eissa and virtually every other high profile editor of the free and opposition press, the Creme de´la creme of Egyptian journalism if you like.This has been like a real life Ramadan-tv series for the last year or so.

On February 23rd 2004, President Mubarak gave a promise of changing legislation, to safeguard journalists from facing the possibility of being sentenced to jail for what they write. This was later incorporated into the Presidential election platform in 2005. Today some 1675 days later, this promise is yet to be fulfilled.