A newspaper editor will be put on trial over his paper’s recent reports questioning the health of Egypt’s 79-year-old president, Hosni Mubarak, the state news agency said Tuesday.
Ibrahim Eissa, editor of the independent daily Al-Dustor, was questioned last week for printing the rumors and released without bail. The general prosecutor decided Tuesday to send the case to trial, the MENA news agency reported.
Eissa’s trial on charges of disturbing the peace and harming national economic interests was set for Oct. 1, said his lawyer, Nasser Amin. He faces up to three years in prison.
MENA said that, according to Egypt’s Central Bank, the rumors prompted the “withdrawal of foreign investments worth more than $350 million in the two days of the publishing these rumors.”
———-
Items compiled from Tribune news services.
