The papers — dailies Al-Masri Al-Yom, Al-Alam Al-Yom and Nahdet Masr as well as weeklies Sawt Al-Oummah, Al-Arabi, Al-Fagr and Al-Khamis — accused Egyptian President Hosni Moubarak of not upholding his February 2004 promise to counter threats to press freedom.

The Egyptian Parliament will debate a law this Sunday that ends the practice of sentencing journalists to prison terms in certain situations. But the newspapers are upset that the law does not end prison terms in all situations; prison sentences can still be given to journalists who outrage the president or publish accusations of corruption.

The independent press has grown in Egypt in recent years and is increasingly a challenge to state-owned publications.

Source: AFP (in French)