An Egyptian court sentenced the head of the journalists’ union and two board members to two years in prison yesterday for harbouring colleagues wanted by the law and spreading false news, judicial sources and their lawyer said.
Amnesty International condemned the sentences as “a new stage of a crackdown on media and freedom of expression”. The verdict comes amid efforts by Egyptian authorities to quell rising dissent against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as the economy deteriorates.
Union chief Yehia Qalash and the two board members, Khaled al-Balshy and Gamal Abdel Rahim, can appeal the decision.
A bail of 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($623) has been set for each of them.
“The three of us have been put on trial (but) the target is the whole syndicate,” Qalash told reporters after the verdict. Dozens of journalists and union officials gathered outside the syndicate headquarters in Cairo to protest the verdict, while riot police and armoured vehicles filled the streets near the building.
“Down with military rule,” yelled the protesters.
Some carried signs that read “Journalism is not a crime”.
Inside the building, union officials held emergency talks on how to respond to the verdict.
Prosecutors ordered the three men to be questioned in May after what their lawyer at the time, Sayyed Abou Zeid, said was a police raid on the syndicate headquarters to arrest two opposition journalists who had taken refuge there.
The arrests of Mahmoud El Sakka and Amr Badr sparked protests from journalists and Qalash demanded the interior minister be sacked.
The interior ministry denied any police raid had occurred but confirmed the arrest of Sakka and Badr, who work for the opposition website Bawabet Yanayer and were wanted on criminal charges.
Commenting yesterday’s verdict, Amnesty’s Mohamed Ahmed, a researcher on Egypt and a human rights lawyer, said: “Qalash, al-Balshy and Abdel Rahim should have never been arrested or put on trial for doing their job.”
Egyptian authorities have cracked down hard on the Islamist, secular and liberal opposition alike since Sisi, then the army chief, toppled elected Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.
Hundreds have been killed and thousands have been arrested, including journalists.
Sisi denies that Egypt restricts media freedom.