Activist journalists lament the death of colleagues in Wednesday's massacres

The ‘Journalists for Reform’ movement has condemned the killing of journalists and cameramen during the crackdown on the pro-Morsi protests in Rabaa al-Adawiya and al-Nahda Squares, where a large number of journalists were wounded and detained.

The group announced the death of one of its lead journalists, Ahmed Abdul-Jawwad, an editor of Al-Akhbar newspaper and the main newsrooms at the Misr 25 channel, which has now been closed down. They asserted that Generals Abdul-Fattah al-Sisi and Mohamed Ibrahim were to blame for his death.

They also announced the death of journalists Habeeba Ahmed, the daughter of journalist Ahmed Abdu-Azeez, Morsi’s former information advisor.

Saying that they had been deliberately targeted, the group also announced the death of cameramen, Mosab al-Shami and Adam Mohamed Adam.

The group said that the journalists had been targeted by live ammunition from the beginning of the operation, in order to impose an information blackout on the massacres.

They also blamed the head of the Journalists Syndicate, Deyaa Rashwan, for the death of journalists, who has been inciting violence against pro-Morsi journalists.

Meanwhile, the group said that they hoped the wounded journalists, Islam Akel and Mohamed Zaki, who was shot in the hand while holding his camera, would recover soon.

Blaming the police and the army, the group said that they had cut the electricity supplies from both Squares before the operation began. They said that they had wanted to conceal their “genocides and collective killings” by cutting electricity and targeting the media.

The group concluded their statement by calling on the council of the Journalists Syndicate to step down; including the current head who has colluded with the “illegal” regime’s carrying out of massacres against journalists and the media, and allow the return of the former journalists who ran the Syndicate.