[NYTr] Egypt papers strike over press crackdown

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AFP via news.com.au - Oct 7, 2007
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22546305-5005961,00.html

Egypt papers strike over press crackdown

Agence France-Presse

Cairo - Egyptian independent and opposition newspapers suspended
publication today in protest at a government clampdown that has seen
several journalists hit with lengthy jail terms.

At least 15 newspapers did not publish their Sunday edition, and
independent and opposition weeklies will not be appearing on news
stands this week.

The move follows the sentencing of seven journalists in September to up
to two years in prison on charges ranging from misquoting the Justice
Minister to spreading rumours about the health of 79-year-old President
Hosni Mubarak.

The clampdown led the US - which provides Egypt with $US2 billion ($2.2
billion) in aid each year - to voice "deep concern" over the sentences,
a criticism rejected by Cairo as "unacceptable interference".

Journalists in Egypt can be jailed for writings that are deemed
insulting to the President or state institutions such as Parliament or
the Cabinet.