From: ai-news@amnesty.org
Subject: Egypt: Freedom of expression - now cartoonist faces jail
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Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2001 17:04:23 +0000
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* News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
International *

12 February 2001
MDE 12/005/2001
26/01


An Egyptian man who was charged with insulting one of the
country's courts faces up to three years in jail. His crime?
Drawing a cartoon.

     In December 1999 'Issam al-Din Hanafi was working for the
opposition newspaper al-Sha'ab. He and two colleagues - the
journalists Magdi Hussein and Salah Badawi - had been sentenced
to two years' imprisonment following a libel case brought by a
government minister. The newspaper then printed 'Issam al-Din
Hanafi's cartoon, which carried the caption "the unfair ruling
against al-Sha'ab."

     The verdict is expected 14 February 2001.

     "We are very concerned that a cartoonist is facing a
prison term for merely expressing his views," Amnesty
International said today ."This is far from being the only case
of its kind. An increasing number of people are being detained
and tried in Egypt simply because they exercised their right to
freedom of expression."

     In the year 2000 alone at least 30 prisoners of
conscience - individuals who have not used or advocated the use
of violence - were sentenced to prison terms of between six
months and five years in connection with their political or
religious beliefs. The parliamentary elections in 2000 led to the
detention of hundreds of possible prisoners of conscience. In
some cases they were held for months before being released
without charge.

     This year has already proved to be no better. In
mid-January seven individuals who were alleged to have been
members of the Baha'i faith - a minority which has suffered in
the past from harassment - were detained. About two weeks later
the writer Salah al-Din Muhsin, 43, was sentenced to three years
imprisonment, accused of "offending religion" in his
publications. His original trial in July 2000 had resulted in a
six month suspended sentence, but the case returned to court
after the authorities refused to endorse the verdict, deeming the
sentence too lenient.

     Amnesty International considers Salah al-Din Muhsin to be
a prisoner of conscience. The human rights organization calls on
the Egyptian authorities to release immediately and
unconditionally all prisoners of conscience. The authorities
should review or abolish legislation that, in violation of
international standards, stipulates prison sentences for acts
which constitute nothing more than the exercise of the rights of
freedom of thought, conscience and religion.


BACKGROUND NOTES

     Amnesty International is further concerned about the
trial of human rights defender Saad Eddin Ibrahim and other
activists from Egyptian nongovernmental organisations, which is
due to resume on 17 February. Amnesty International believes that
the trial, held before the Supreme State Security Court, is
politically motivated. Saad Eddin Ibrahim is the director of the
Ibn Kaldoun Center for Development Studies. He was arrested last
year, along with several colleagues and others associated with
the organization. All of them were detained in June and July and
held without being formally charged before being released in
August. Amnesty International has protested that the proceedings
fail to conform to international standards for fair trials.

     Issam al-Din Hanafi served several months of the original
sentence handed down in the libel trial before being amnestied in
October 2000. Magdi Hussein and Salah Badawi were released in
December 2000.

     Prisoners of conscience sentenced in 2000 and currently
serving prison sentences include the following:

     * In September 2000 Manal Wahid Mana', the alleged leader
of a religious group, and three of her followers charged with
"offending religion" were sentenced to prison terms of  between
three and five years by the Emergency State Security Court for
Misdemeanours.

     * In November 2000 the Supreme Military Court sentenced
15 professionals and alleged members of the banned Muslim
Brothers to prison terms of  between three and five years.

     The rights to freedom of expression and religion are
provided in international and regional treaties, including the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the
African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, to which Egypt is a
state party.

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