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Forsaking the Egyptian Free Press

[Washington Post] Jackson Diehl - Two years ago, political liberalization in Egypt was at the center of President Bush's attention. This month, after speculation about Mubarak's failing health, Ibrahim Eissa of the newspaper al-Dustor was charged by a state prosecutor with disturbing the peace and harming Egypt's economic interests. On Sept. 13, Eissa and three other newspaper editors were hauled into court and sentenced to a year in prison for publishing articles critical of Mubarak; his son and presumed heir, Gamal; and other government officials. It was the biggest single assault on the press in Mubarak's quarter-century in power and one of the worst blows in years to media freedom in the Arabic-speaking world. Yet there was no reaction from the State Department or the White House.
2007-09-25 01:00:00
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