Egypt is imprisoning journalists for reporting on the health of Hosni Mubarak, speculating that the 79-year-old president may be ill. A guy is pushing 80 and you get jailed for speculating about the condition of his health?
AFP reports:
Outspoken Egyptian editor Ibrahim Eissa was sentenced to six months in jail on Wednesday for writing rumours about President Hosni Mubarak’s health, a justice official told AFP. … Eissa had been due to tried before a state security court where he would have enjoyed no right of appeal, but eventually the trial took place in an ordinary court after what the journalists’ union called regime backpedalling.
… At least seven journalists were sentenced in September alone to up to two years in prison on charges ranging from misquoting the justice minister to spreading rumours about 79-year-old Mubarak.