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Rights group slams journalist's jail term

Press freedom advocate Reporters Without Borders has condemned a three-year jail sentence handed to a journalist in Qatar for defamation, labelling it "a dangerous signal to all journalists in the emirate".

Jordanian national Amal Eisa was sentenced in absentia last month for an article published in the Qatari daily Al-Sharq, in which she reported a hospital had mistakenly sent a living patient to the morgue.

The hospital denied the incident had taken place and sued the newspaper. Al-Sharq's editor was ordered to pay 20,000 rials ($5,495).

Reporters Without Borders said on Monday the sentence was an "extremely harsh penalty" and called on the government to push through "serious legal reform", including the decriminalisation of press offences.

Journalists can currently be sentenced to jail in Qatar under the Gulf state's press law, which includes criminal penalties for offences such as “damage to state integrity” or “damage to religions”.

Qatar is ranked in 79th place out of 169 countries in Reporters Without Borders latest annual press freedom index published last year.

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