Mubarak has taken recently concrete steps towards a political reform in Egypt

By Hamdi Al-Husseini, IOL Correspondent

CAIRO, February 23 (IslamOnline.net) – Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak issued Monday, February 23, a presidential decree scrapping prison sentences being imposed on journalists for published articles, the chairman of the Egyptian Journalists’ Syndicate said.

Galal Aref said the Egyptian president phoned him earlier in the day and notified him of the decision shortly before the opening session of the fourth congress of the Egyptian journalists.

The decree was met by a ten-minute loud applause from journalists.

Aref said legal steps are now being taken to put the decree into effect.

Under a notorious 1996 law, Egyptian journalists remain vulnerable to prosecution under a host of charges, including “inciting hatred,” “violating public morality,” and “harming the state security” that carry one-to-two-year prison sentences and hefty fines.

Before the presidential decree, Egypt's press operated under numerous formal restrictions, and self-censorship prevails on several sensitive topics.

A state of emergency law was passed after the assassination of late president Anwar El-Sadat in 1981. This allows authorities to try journalists and others in state security courts and military-style tribunals whose decisions cannot be appealed.

The South Cairo Criminal Court in 1998 sentenced editor-in-chief of the weekly Al Shaab, Magdy Hussein, Al Shaab journalists Salah Bediwi and Essam Hanafi to two years imprisonment with hard labor for libeling Egypt's deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture Youssef Wali.

Egypt's press, however, remains one of the most influential in the Arab world.

In September 2003, Mubarak called for the removal of shackles on political parties and announced the cancellation of all martial orders in concrete steps towards reforming Egypt's political landscape.

Critical Juncture 

This congress is held under special circumstances and at a critical juncture as the Arab press, in general, faces now intense external pressures, particularly from the United States.

The three-day event will tackle a plethora of issues, chiefly free speech, democracy, political reforms, intellectual property rights and the salaries and pensions of journalists.

IslamOnline.net will present a paper to the congress on the future of the high-on-the-agenda online journalism.

The Secretary General of the Arab Journalists Union, Salahudin Hafez said  freedom of the press is part and parcel of sweeping democratic reforms.

He said transition of power and free elections are the one and only way to bring a real democracy.

Hafez added that the relationship between the press and the Egyptian authorities has been “complex and confused” since the 19^th century, when the ruler got the press under his thumb.