Will the state assume control of the Journalists Syndicate board?

A verdict is expected on Sunday July 31 regarding whether or not the state will assume control over the board of the Journalists Syndicate, after the hearing was postponed again on Monday.

The case was originally filed with the Cairo Court of Urgent Matters against President of the Journalists Syndicate Yehia Qallash in May by a group of pro-government representatives calling themselves the Syndicate of Independent Journalists. It calls for judicial sequestration of the Journalists Syndicate, recommending that a group of pro-government representatives take over the professional association.

The plaintiffs have hand picked replacements for Qallash and other syndicate leaders, according to a press statement posted by the Journalists Syndicate on Monday. They include: Makram Mohamed Ahmed, Mostafa al-Fiqy and Abdul Maghrabi, the privately owned Al-Shorouk newspaper reported.

Those presiding over the syndicate should be experienced elders who are “known for their patriotism, including three journalists from the House of Representatives and three former syndicate presidents,” the statement asserted, adding that they should be the ones entrusted with electing a new board for the syndicate not the government representatives.

The lawsuit cites the storming of the headquarters of the Journalists Syndicate on May 1 and the arrest of two journalists, Amr Badr and Mahmoud al-Saqqa, based on a warrant from the general prosecutor alleging they violated the protest law, breached security measures and attempted to disrupt national stability.

Both Badr and Saqqa remain in jail pending trial for participation in unauthorized protests opposing the decision by Egypt’s government to handover sovereignty of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.

In response to their arrests and the unprecedented raid, the syndicate issued several resolutions determined in an emergency general meeting, demanding an apology from the president, the dismissal of the interior minister and a coordinated media response.

Qallash and two other leading members of the Journalists Syndicate’s board, Khaled al-Balshy and Gamal Abdel Rehim, are due to stand trial before Qasr al-Nil Criminal Court on charges of “harboring fugitives from justice,” in reference to Badr and Saqqa.

Pro-government representatives have previously sought to withdraw confidence from the syndicate’s board members and to hold early elections to vote out the current leadership.

Mainstream media outlet Youm7 reported the case against Qallash is “in the interests of the media and journalists, in the interests of Egypt’s safety and security, and to save the syndicate from financial, administrative and moral collapse, as well as preventing the ‘Brotherhoodization’ of the syndicate.” However, currently no members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood organization hold any positions within the Journalists Syndicate’s board of directors.

Several human rights organizations have decried the police raid on the syndicate and the arrests of journalists and syndicate leaders. In late May, Amnesty International condemned the prosecution of Qallash, Balshy and Abdel Rehim, stating: “The arrest of key media figures at the Press Syndicate signals a dangerous escalation of the Egyptian authorities’ draconian clampdown on freedom of expression, and demonstrates the extreme measures the authorities are prepared to take in order to tighten their iron grip on power.”

Amnesty International suggested the case against senior members of the syndicate is a “clear attempt to punish them for speaking out against the government and to send a strong message to intimidate all journalists into silence.” The rights group called on Egyptian authorities to “drop all charges against the two journalists and investigate the circumstances of the raid.”