Keeping a low profile while Egypt cracks down on dissent in the media? Maybe they say nothing because that's what they would prefer doing in the US, so they're living vicariously through Mubarak. And to think that people in the region are cynical towards the Bush administration and their talk of freedom and democracy. Where's Karen Hughes during this time of democratic turmoil?
The press boycott follows the recent sentencing of two journalists to a year in prison for the crime of defaming Mubarak and his family. It comes as lawmakers prepared to vote on a proposed new press law Sunday that would double libel fines and also allow the continued use of libel laws against critics of the president and journalists who write in detail about the finances of public officials.In 2004, Mubarak had promised to do away with prison sentences for libel. "Nobody in Egypt will be imprisoned again for their opinions," Press Syndicate Chairman Galal Aref said at the time. But Ibrahim Eissa, editor of the independent weekly Al Dustour, and colleague Sahar Zaki are evidence that promise hasn't been kept. They were sentenced for an April article that outlined a lawsuit against Mubarak and his family charging the presidentÂ? his wife Suzanne and his son Gamal, presumed by many here to be Mubarak's heir apparent Â? of "wasting the government's resources," "squandering foreign aid," and turning "Egypt into a monarchy."
