GOE RELEASES JOURNALIST FROM PRISON AFTER FIVE DAYS

C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 001332

SIPDIS

FOR NEA/ELA AND DRL/NESCA
NSC FOR KUMAR

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/13/2029
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM EG
SUBJECT: GOE RELEASES JOURNALIST FROM PRISON AFTER FIVE DAYS

REF: A. CAIRO 1305

B. CAIRO 1231

C. CAIRO 284

D. CAIRO 180

E. 08 CAIRO 2152

Classified By: Economic-Political Minister-Counselor
Donald A. Blome for reason 1.4 (d).


1. (C) On July 11, the GOE released independent editor Yasser
Barakat from prison five days after police arrested him to
implement a sentence imposed by Cairo Criminal Court June 24.
The court handed down a six-month sentence against Barakat
for allegedly defaming MP Mustafa Bakry in a November 2007
newspaper article (refs A and B). Barakat's lawyer, Gamal
Eid, told us that the Public Prosecutor commuted the sentence
and ordered Barakat's release, pending the case's appeal to
the Court of Cassation. Eid attributed the Public
Prosecutor's decision to pressure from Press Syndicate
President Makram Mohammed Ahmed who lobbied for exactly this
outcome. He noted that MP Bakry also asked the prosecutor to
commute the sentence. Eid said that as part of the agreement
with the Public Prosecutor, the Press Syndicate would
discipline Barakat for practicing "irresponsible" journalism.
(Note: It is unclear how the syndicate would discipline
Barakat, as there is no precedent for such an action. End
note.)


2. (C) Sayed Abdelhafez of the Moltaqa Forum for Development
and Human Rights Dialogue said members of Barakat's newspaper
told him that Barakat plans to publish a formal apology to
Bakry in his virtually unknown paper "Al-Moagaz." (Note:
Bakry is editor-in-chief of the sensationalist weekly tabloid
"Al-Osboa." End note.) According to Abdelhafez, the Press
Syndicate is encouraging journalists and others to seek the
syndicate's mediation on defamation issues, as opposed to
going through the court system. Abdelhafez noted that the
Press Syndicate is reviewing the 13 additional defamation
suits MP Bakry has filed against Barakat, with an eye toward
encouraging resolutions out of court. Abdelhafez believed
Bakry bolstered his standing with the Press Syndicate and the
public by requesting that the Public Prosecutor commute the
sentence, although this request was purely symbolic.


3. (C) Comment: Barakat's quick release from jail
illustrates that with the public and pro-government
institutions generally opposed to prison terms for
journalists, the Press Syndicate can effectively lobby the
GOE to commute sentences. However, the government has not
acted to implement Mubarak's 2004 pledge to abolish prison
terms for journalists, probably to maintain jail terms as a
threat against the media. The Press Syndicate worked mostly
behind the scenes in this case, as opposed to the
high-profile media fanfare that accompanied its successful
efforts to persuade Mubarak to commute journalist Ibrahim
Eissa's sentence in October 2008 (ref E).
SCOBEY