Head of Egypt’s Journalists Syndicate vows to defend press freedom — Al Jazeera

Head of Egypt’s Journalists Syndicate Khaled Elbalshy said the organization would continue to defend press freedom following criticism over its support for six detained journalists from the independent platform Matsadaash. As Al Jazeera reports, the syndicate filed a complaint with Egypt’s prosecution over allegations that the detainees were tortured.

Elbalshy stressed that a violation of one journalist’s freedom is a violation of the freedom of all others and weakens guarantees for its protection. Pro-government commentators criticized the syndicate for defending the journalists, while Egyptian authorities rejected the torture allegations.

Detentions and charges

Mohamed Adel, Mohamed Ashraf Abu-Emira, Islam Barakat, Omar Helal, Mohamed Mahmoud and Abdallah Kadry were detained on September 28 and 29. They appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution, which handles national security cases. The journalists were remanded in custody for 15 days pending investigation.

Egypt’s prosecution accuses the six Matsadaash employees of working for a media organization linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. Egyptian authorities have designated the group as “terrorist,” but the organization itself denies these claims. Matsadaash co-founder Abdelrahman Mansour also rejected any links between the platform and the Muslim Brotherhood.

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Torture allegations

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), whose lawyers represent the detainees, said the journalists were held for five days without contact with their families or lawyers. Following complaints, they appeared before prosecutors in the presence of lawyers and a representative of the Journalists Syndicate.

According to EIPR, the detainees are being held under the 2015 anti-terrorism law, although the prosecution, rights defenders say, accuses them of spreading rumors or “false” news. The organization also reported that most of the journalists said they had been beaten, subjected to electric shocks and forced to record fabricated confessions. Egypt’s Interior Ministry rejected the allegations.

Matsadaash was founded in 2018 as a fact-checking platform and later expanded into investigative journalism. Its website is blocked in Egypt, and the platform has more than 1.3 million followers on Facebook.