EGYPT: Be careful what you say about the president

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Ibrahim Issa has long been an annoyance to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the ruling National Democratic Party. As editor of the independent newspaper, al-Dustour, Issa attacks the government with satire and sensationalism from his sparse office in downtown Cairo. He’s in trouble again. His missives suggesting that Mubarak lapses into comas and may be near death have led to criminal charges and accusations that he jeopardized national security. A trial on the allegations will resume later this month.

Egyptian journalists have been arrested, fined and jailed for decades. But in recent years they have enjoyed wider latitude in criticizing Mubarak. This is changing. At least 10 journalists, including five editors, face possible jail sentences for speaking their minds. The hostility toward the press comes as the 79-year-old Mubarak, who has led Egypt for 26 years, is sensitive about the end of his era and the naming of a successor. Many are betting on his son, Gamal.

Rumors of an ill president have titillated the nation for weeks, forcing Mubarak to appear on TV shaking hands with world leaders and visiting factories. Egyptians studied the images looking for signs of frailty in a parlor game of national anxiety. Tensions have somewhat calmed. But editors and human rights activists say the charges against the bespectacled Issa and other journalists are another crackdown on freedom of expression in a country that has had an uneasy balance between democracy and authoritarianism.

— Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo