Security forces kill two suspects involved in death of Dostour journalist

Two men suspected of being involved in the death of journalist Mayada Ashraf were killed during a security raid to arrest them, while a third suspect was detained, state owned MENA reported.

Ashraf, a 22-year-old journalist with privately owned Al-Dostour newspaper, and a Coptic bystander, were killed on March 28 in clashes between police and Brotherhood supporters in the Alf Maskan area in Ain Shams, east of Cairo.

According to forensics reports, Ashraf was killed by a single bullet that penetrated and exited the left side of her head, and the distance between the gunman and the victim would have been a few meters standing on a higher pavement or a car.

On Monday, a security source told MENA that an operation was organized to raid an apartment in Ain Shams where the suspects were believed to be hiding. As security forces approached the apartment, the suspects reportedly started shooting live ammunition, causing policemen to retaliate and resulting in the death of the two men.

A variety of firearms were found in the apartment, according to security sources.

Four other people died in the March 28 clashes between security forces and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood who had called for protests to stand against Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's decision to run for president.

Eyewitnesses testified that police forces shot Ashraf twice in the head while she was standing on the side of Brotherhood protesters. The police denied the charges and claimed the Brotherhood was responsible for the journalist’s death.

Al-Dostour newspaper said in its statement that Ashraf was one of their young reporters who launched the Dostour portal.

A statement from the Committee to Defend Media Independence, which monitors the Journalists Syndicate, condemned Ashraf's death and said that journalists are paying the price of political conflict in the country.

Just days after her death, Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim indirectly blamed the Muslim Brotherhood, saying that the deceased journalist's last update was that they were shooting randomly. He added that Ashraf was kidnapped previously by the Brotherhood and was released by the police.

At least six journalists have been killed  while covering clashes between police and Brotherhood supporters last year, according to the international Committee to Protect Journalists, which ranked Egypt as one of the countries in which journalist freedom and safety declined most in 2013.

Two more journalists were shot with live ammunition on April 14 while covering a police crackdown on protesting students at Cairo University: Khaled Hussein, a photographer for the privately owned Youm7 newspaper, and Amr al-Sayed, a photographer for the privately owned news site Sada al-Balad.

Diaa Rashwan, head of the Journalists Syndicate, repeatedly condemned the killings, and later announced that the government provided 100 bulletproof vests and helmets for field reporters, as well as 30 gas masks, in light of increased casualties and fatalities amongst journalists.

Rashwan then called on media outlets to permanently halt field reporting and requested a protest to condemn the repeated attacks.

Calls for a strike on field coverage to protest the numerous physical assaults on reporters have grown from within the Journalists Syndicate. However, many said this would grant security forces the green light to attack protesters in the total absence of media coverage. Others argued that the security forces’ narratives regarding protests and clashes would remain entirely unchallenged by the media.

After a meeting with Journalists Syndicate representatives, Prosecutor General Hesham Barakat  pledged a renewed effort to expose the causes and conditions behind assaults on journalists, while bringing their perpetrators to justice.

However, the death of protesters has often been blamed on infiltrators or other demonstrators.