Dostour journalists end short strike

Journalists from the online version of Al-Dostour newspaper decided to end their short-lived strike late on Tuesday.

Staff from the privately owned newspaper had announced a strike earlier in the day in objection to a lack of response to their 22-year-old colleague Mayada Ashraf’s death from a gunshot wound during clashes between security forces and Muslim Brotherhood protestors in Ain Shams in March.

A statement announcing the end of the strike cited, “an understanding and concern for the public interest,” as the reason behind the decision. 

“Journalists of Al-Dostour Online news website decided to end their strike … when they sensed an understanding on the management’s part which affirmed their adherence to the fundamentals of family relations that bind all members of Dostour’s editorial team,” the statement read.

The management listened to their demands and helped them look into satisfactory legal solutions, the statement added.

Earlier on Tuesday, journalists had said they were waiting for the managing board, represented by Reda Edward, the chairman and owner of the newspaper, to respond to the incident and secure the lives of journalists.

They had previously accused Edward of making empty promises via the print’s editor-in-chief Saeed Wahba, “that were nothing but tranquillisers until the storm passes.” These included finding Ashraf’s murderer, ensuring legal justice, and signing contracts with all journalists who have worked on the website for over two consecutive years so that they can be admitted to the Journalists Syndicate and fall under its protection.

Dozens of journalists gathered on the syndicate steps in early February — including representatives from privately owned newspapers Al-Shorouk, Al-Watan, Al-Dostour, Al-Tahrir and Al-Fajr — to protest the deaths of their colleagues.

Al-Dostour staff also criticized the head of the Journalists Syndicate in an earlier statement for promising to personally meet their demands and failing. They maintain that the changes made did not uphold even the basic rights of the profession. The syndicate had announced that it would provide bulletproof jackets to field reporters and force newspapers to provide life insurance.

Edward didn’t initially fulfil his promises according to Al-Dostour staff and continuously postponed meeting with them to discuss their demands.

However, the latest statement released on Tuesday evening described Edward’s most recent position as “responsible,” adding that the way he dealt with the situation showed he is “concerned with public interest,” hence the decision by staff to immediately resume their work starting Tuesday night.