Three prominent Egyptian actors have vehemently rejected any out-of-court settlement to withdraw legal charges against two journalists, who were convicted of defaming them, their lawyers said Tuesday. The Press Syndicate's Chief Makram Mohamed Ahmed has offered to effect a reconciliation between Ihab el-Agami, a journalist at the independent el-Balagh el-Gadeed (The New Statement) newspaper, and its Editor-in-Chief Abdou el-Maghrabi, and actors Nur el-Sherif, Khalid Abul Nagaa and Hamdi el-Wazir, the lawyers said. But, the actors said that there was no mandatory requirement for them to accept Ahmed's offer, which included a written apology and a financial compensation by the two journalists, they added. "Our clients have expressed their 'full' dissatisfaction with Ahmed's offer because the two defendants had committed defamation crimes, which are punishable under the Egyptian Penal Code and Press Offences Law, the lawyers said. Last month, the Cairo Misdemeanour Court fined el-Agami and Maghrabi LE20,000 and sentenced them to one year in jail each after it had found them guilty of slandering the three actors. It convicted el-Agami over a critical report he made against the actors claiming that they had been arrested during a 'steamy encounter' with some men in a Cairo hotel. El-Balagh editor-in-chief was ordered to pay a similar fine and serve one-year jail term for publishing the report. The two journalists, who were released on bail, said in a statement that they would challenge the ruling before the Appeals Court on February 8. Ahmed said that he was expected to decide in the coming few days to contact the actors again to apologise for any "distress, personal defamation, hurt and embarrassment" el-Agami's report had caused. "We do respect the judiciary system, but we do not like to see a journalist being fined, or imprisoned in a country that honours freedom of expression," Ahmed said in a statement. The actors, who said that el-Agami's report was malicious and personally motivated, vowed to continue with the legal action they had brought against the two journalists. "There is not a shred of truth in the false article. Our clients were never arrested in any hotel as el-Agami had claimed," the lawyers said, adding that el-Balagh report was riddled with slander and inventions against the personal reputation of their clients.
