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CAIRO - An Egyptian newspaper editor was sentenced to a year in jail on Monday for publishing a front-page photograph of an Egyptian television and film actress that was found to be indecent, court sources said.
The verdict against editor Hatem Mamdouh Mahran was the latest in a string of rulings that have handed jail terms to at least 12 journalists since September on charges ranging from defaming President Hosni Mubarak to misquoting the minister of justice.
The sources said Mahran's al-Naba weekly newspaper, known for testing conservative Egyptian sensibilities, had published a picture in January of actress Hala Sidky that prosecutors said "reveals a sensitive part" of her body. They did not say which part of her body.
Mahran, who was also fined 20,000 Egyptian pounds ($4800) and granted bail of 5000 pounds, said he would appeal.
He said the picture of the Christian actress was a shot taken from a recent film that she had played a role in, and that the newspaper had neither taken the picture nor altered it.
It was the second time Mahran has been ordered jailed for media offences. He was sentenced to three years in jail in 2001 after he enraged Egypt's Coptic Christian minority by publishing a sexually explicit report and photographs about a Coptic monk's alleged sexual affairs.
- REUTERS
