Reporters Without Borders journalists continue to be hounded in Egypt, in remarks to two journalist being sentenced despite official announcements on decriminalizing press offenses, "each year such harassment increases."
Two journalists with the independent daily "Al Fajr" (Dawn), Mohamed Abdul-Latif and Manal Lasheen, were sentenced on 14 December 2005 to six and four years in prison, respectively, and also fined, for writing last August that a cousin of Member of Parliament Emad el-Gelda paid a man to serve a prison sentence in his place. The MP filed a complaint against the journalists but they were not told about the case and only learned about their convictions from a newspaper report afterwards. They have now hired lawyers, paid bail and a new hearing has been set for 5 February 2006.
Journalist Mona El-Tahawi was summoned by state security officials on December 22 and interrogated about her coverage of the recent parliamentary elections.
