CAIRO — A Cairo court has ordered the chief editor of an Egyptian daily detained pending trial on charges of insulting the country's president and "spreading lies."
The case against Islam Afifi, chief editor of the privately-owned el-Dustour, is one among several lawsuits leveled mainly by Egypt’s Islamists against several journalists and TV presenters, accusing them of inflammatory coverage and inciting the public against the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s largest political group.
The Cairo Criminal Court on Thursday also postponed the trial of Afifi for mid-September.
Pro-democracy activists have shown mixed reactions to the court cases. Many defend the right of freedom of expression and deem the Islamists’ practices as repressive. Others say the journalists facing trials are former regime loyalists.
