Egypt seizes Syndicate of Journalists’ funds

Media workers gather in front of the Journalists Union building to protest against restrictions placed on them in Cairo, Egypt on 19 November 2016 [Mohamed El Raai /Anadolu]

The Alexandria governor has issued orders to confiscate funds worth 13 million Egyptian pounds ($0.73 million) from the Syndicate of Journalists, members reported.

“I, along with four of my colleagues, have warned of the danger of not inviting the Journalists Syndicate Council to convene more than eight times throughout the council’s mandate,” Mahmoud Kamel wrote on Facebook.

“Yesterday we called for an emergency meeting to discuss the Governor of Alexandria’s decision but we did not receive a response,” he added.

Kamel explained that the Syndicate’s former chief, Yahya Qalash, agreed during a meeting with the Governor of Alexandria to pay 500,000 Egyptian pounds ($28,045) as the first instalment of the Syndicate’s debt and to pay the remaining amount in instalments, but unfortunately the current Council did not pay attention to the proposal and did not follow up on the agreement.

He added he has been unable to reach Syndicate officials via phone.

Read: 56 violations against Egyptian journalists in 3 months

Freedom of press in Egypt – Cartoon [Latuff/MiddleEastMonitor]

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