Head of Egypt press syndicate jailed for 2 years

By Sayed Fathi and Hussein Qabani

CAIRO

An Egyptian court on Saturday slapped the head of Egypt’s press syndicate and two board members with a 2-year jail term each for harboring “fugitives”.

Yehia Qalash and board members Gamal Abdel-Rahim and Khaled al-Balshi were charged with hiding two colleagues sought by the authorities at the syndicate’s headquarters.

In May, police raided the syndicate’s premises in Cairo, arresting the two journalists for allegedly "inciting protests" and "plotting to overthrow the ruling regime".

Syndicate officials have decried the raid -- the first in the syndicate’s history -- as a "blatant assault on journalists’ dignity" and have demanded the interior minister’s dismissal.

The interior ministry, for its part, said the arrest of the two journalists had been carried out in accordance with the law and in line with a warrant issued by Egypt’s prosecutor-general.

Saturday’s verdict can still be appealed and the court set a bail of 10,000 Egyptian Pounds ($625) for each journalist, a judicial source said on condition of anonymity as he was unauthorized to speak to media.

Egypt has been roiled by turmoil since the military unseated Mohamed Morsi, the country’s first freely elected president, in a 2013 coup, following protests against his administration.