Via Greenslade, pro-democracy newspapers in Egypt did not publish yesterday in protest of a bill that allows journalists to be imprisoned for criticizing state officials:
The government-drafted bill, which won preliminary approval in parliament on Saturday, eliminates imprisonment as a penalty for some media offences, but continues to allow judges to impose jail terms for journalists in many others.
The opposition said the bill was another blow for reform in Egypt and showed the insincerity of pledges by President Hosni Mubarak to allow more political freedoms and end custodial sentences for publishing offences.
Chief among the objections of opponents of the law is a provision allowing the jailing of journalists who allege financial corruption by officials or state employees.
The Christian Science Monitor has more on the Egyptian authorities’ recent crackdown on the pro-democracy movement. Sounds like Condi needs to get back on their case.