Egyptian Journalists' Syndicate members to face court on Saturday

Three members of the Syndicate will face trial on the weekend in what has been described as an 'unprecedented move' against press freedom in Egypt

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab

03 June, 2016

Yahya Qallash [centre] addresses members of the Journalists' Syndicate, May 4 2016 [Khaled Desouki/ AFP]

Three leading members of the Egyptian Journalists' Syndicate will stand trial before a misdemeanour court on Saturday, the syndicate's board has confirmed.

This latest development in the ongoing clash between Egypt's authorities and its press the syndicate's head Yahya Qallash, secretary general Gamal Abdel Raheem and undersecretary Khaled el-Bashy came after all three men were officially charged with sheltering fugitives and spreading false information about the police raid on the union's headquarters on May 1.

The raid resulted in the arrests of journalists Mahmoud al-Sakka and Amr Badr, who were the fugitives in question.

According to Egypt's state-run newspaper al-Ahram, the syndicate's board held a meeting on Thursday to express its support for its detained members.

The charges were described as a "fierce attack" on Egyptian journalists and freedom of press and expression in the country, and the referral to trial as an "unprecedented move."

After questioning by prosecutors earlier this week, the trio were released on bail after an anonymous source paid the EGP 10,000 ($1126 USD) set by authorities.

This move was in fact against their will, as the three board members had refused to pay the amount in protest against the legitimacy of the charges.

They were then released on Tuesday following the unsolicited payment.

Qallash, the syndicate's head, told reporters on Tuesday that their determination was unbreakable, and that "whoever bets against it will lose in the end."

Amnesty International condemned the May 1 raid on the Syndicate building as "the most brazen attack on the media the country has seen in decades."

The human rights watchdog's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, Magdalena Mughrabi, said the arrests signalled "a dangerous escalation of the Egyptian authorities' draconian clampdown on freedom of expression and demonstrates the extreme measures the authorities are prepared to take in order to tighten their iron grip on power".