[JURIST] An Egyptian prosecutor Wednesday appealed the six-month prison sentence [JURIST report] handed down last week against a former editor of the weekly al-Dustour [media website, in Arabic] newspaper, insisting it was too lenient. Ibrahim Eissa [al-Ahram profile] was convicted on charges of spreading "rumors" about the health of Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak [official profile] in an August 2007 newspaper report. Eissa originally faced a maximum sentence of three years in jail.

Mubarak has previously pledged to decriminalize press offenses [JURIST report] in Egypt, but has yet to do so. AP has more.