The Journalists' Syndicate submitted a memorandum to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Tuesday demanding the release of its detained members.
The Journalists' Syndicate submitted to the president a memo with the names of journalists detained pending investigation to be pardoned by a presidential decree, said Chairman of the Journalists' Syndicate Yehya Qalash.
The syndicate has submitted previous memos to demand the release of journalists also asking that health care services he provided to them, especially those who suffer from deteriorated health conditions, according to Qalash.
The Freedoms Committee of the Journalists' Syndicate called for a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the conditions of detained journalists, press freedom and draft laws related journalists that the syndicate plans to submit to the House of Representatives.
Cairo's Sayeda Zeinab Misdemeanor Court sentenced on Monday four journalists to three years in jail over charges of practicing their profession without a license and affiliation with “an illegal group”.
Arrested in July 2015, Abu Bakr Khallaf was found guilty of running a so-called Electronic Media Syndicate without a license and for being affiliated with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, a common charge filed against many journalists arrested over the years following the overthrow of the Brotherhood-led government in 2013.
The court found three other journalists guilty of unlicensed photography and false reporting. Sherif Ashraf, Mohamed Adly and Hamdi Mokhtar were arrested in July 2015 outside Cairo’s central morgue in Zeinhom. They were covering the death of thirteen Muslim Brotherhood members who were killed the same month during a security raid in 6th of October city, west of Cairo.
Six journalists were referred to trial last week over charges of spreading false news that defamed Justice Minister Ahmed al-Zend.
The journalists reported that Zend, as head of the Judges Club, sold state lands to a relative at below market price, reported the Associated Press. The defendants included editors from the state-owned Al-Ahram news website and well-known journalist Abdel Halim Kandeel.
