Egypt jails chiefs of journalists’ union

An Egyptian court sentenced the head of a journalists’ union and two board members to two years in prison today for allegedly harbouring colleagues wanted by the law and spreading false news, judicial sources said.

Yehia Qalash, Khaled Al-Balshy and Gamal Abdel Rahim can appeal the decision.

Today’s decision to sentence the journalists comes as authorities try to quell rising dissent against President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, and amid a long-running running crackdown on freedom of expression and journalist rights.

The verdict marks the first time for a head of the journalists’ syndicate to be put on trial since the union was founded 75 years ago. Human rights activists and lawyers have condemned the decision.

“The case shouldn’t have gone to court to begin with,” said Gamal Eid, a human rights lawyer and founder of a rights organisation, the Arab Network for Human Rights Information.

“The decision is political…We are not talking here about law and the judiciary,” Eid said, indicating that the Sisi regime was furthering its crackdown.

Egyptian prosecutors in May ordered Qalash, Al-Balshy and Abdel Rahim be tried on charges of harbouring colleagues wanted by the law and spreading lies.

The journalists’ lawyer Sayyed Abou Zeid at the time told Reuters they denied the charges, which relate to a 2 May police raid on the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate to arrest two opposition journalists who had sought shelter from arrest.

Qalash condemned the arrests of Mahmoud El Sakka and Amr Badr, which sparked protests from journalists, and issued a statement two days later demanding the interior minister be sacked.

Amnesty International urged the authorities to drop the charges against the union chiefs, to no avail.