29th June 2009
On Wednesday 24th June 2009, Circle 11 at the Criminal Court in Cairo sentenced the imprisonment of Yasser Barakat, the chairperson and editor in chief of Al Mogaz Newspaper for six months and fined him with 20.000 EGP. This is in the lawsuit no. 2453 of 2008 which sued by Mr. Mostafa Bakry, the chairperson and chief editor of Al Isboaa Newspaper and the parliamentarian in Helwan constituency who accused him of swearing him in an article published in the issue no. 88 of Al Mogaz newspaper issued on 27th November 2007 entitled “Bakry: Syrian Intelligence… Nagib Siwaris, How did the Brokers of Arab Nationalism trade Slogans of Honor and Morals”.
This judgment came in the context of a series of lawsuits sued by Mostafa Bakry against Yasser Barakat because of his opinion published in Al Mogaz newspaper. The Criminal Court in Giza has sentenced its judgment before in its trail on 10th February 2009 in the case no. 10051/2008 which fined Yasser Barakat with 40.000 EGP as compensation as he has published a press report in Al Mogaz newspaper in issue no. 95 (2nd edition)/5th year issued on 22nd January 2008. The second judgment issued by the Criminal Court of Giza on 8th June 2009 in regard to lawsuit no. 14132 of 2008 which fined him with 20.000 EGP. This judgment reflected the regression situation faced by journalists represented in the intolerance of journalists as a result of the Journalists Syndicate inability to play role in reconciling among journalists in case of disputes among them.
