Journalist union head gets 2 years

Two others jailed for sheltering wanted reporters

CAIRO // An Egyptian court yesterday sentenced the head of the journalists’ union and two members to two years in prison for “harbouring fugitives”, allowing them to pay bail pending an appeal.

Journalists Syndicate president Yahiya Kallash, Gamal Abd El Rahim and Khaled Elbalshy were charged in May with sheltering two journalists wanted over protests against the transfer of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.

The court set bail at 10,000 Egyptian pounds (Dh2,310), a court official said.

Their arrest following a May 1 police raid on the union building to detain the two reporters from an opposition website drew condemnation from rights groups. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the court ruling. The three were being punished “for working to protect journalists from harassment, threats, and arrests”, said Sherif Mansour, association’s Middle East and North Africa coordinator.

The European Union had said the indictment of the journalists’ syndicate members was “a worrying development”.

“It reflects broader limitations on freedom of expression and press freedom in Egypt,” the EU said. Kallash had denounced the police raid to arrest reporters Amr Badr and Mahmud Al Sakka, saying the government was “escalating the war against journalism and journalists”.

Activists had organised two protests in April against handing the islands to Saudi Arabia.

A court later ruled that the transfer could not go through.