A Cairo misdemeanor court sentenced on Saturday the head of Egypt’s Press Syndicate and two syndicate board members to two years in prison for “harboring fugitives” inside the syndicate building, state-owned Ahram Online reported. The trio – syndicate head Yehia Qallash and board members Khaled El-Balshy and Gamal Abdel Reheem – were arrested following popular protests in April of this year against the maritime agreement to cede the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia. Police arrested Amr Badr and Mahmoud El Sakka, two journalists, from inside the Press Syndicate after security forces stormed the building a week after the protests in a move described by the syndicate’s head as “unprecedented” and a “violation of law.” The interior ministry published a statement at the time accusing Badr and El-Sakka of “hiding” and using the syndicate as a “safe haven” and capitalizing on the involvement of the syndicate to create a crisis and cause chaos between all parties involved. The ministry also denied the storming of the syndicate, saying that only eight police officers were sent out to arrest the journalists. In a statement, General Prosecutor Nabil Sadek said that the arrest…
Egypt Sentences Press Syndicate Head, Members to 2 Years in Prison
November 19, 2016
