A large number of reporters at the website of state-run Al-Ahram newspaper decided to strike Monday in solidarity with 11 other independent and party-run newspapers, all of whichsuspended activities over President Mohamed Morsy’s most recent constitutional declaration and the new draft constitution.
The reporters issued a statement urging other state papers to follow suit, saying that they had called for a protest. The statement added that the draft constitution has severely neglected the status of the press and journalists.
The same statement attacked Constituent Assembly Chairperson Hossam al-Gheriany for reportedly mocking the press and refusing to acknowledge it as a “popular authority.”
Nationwide protests broke out last week opposing and supporting Morsy’s declaration. The president’s opponents have also slammed his call for a referendum on 15 December over the draft constitution, after Gheriany handed it to him Saturday despite the withdrawal of several assembly members.
The Journalists Syndicate had seen internal conflicts over the participation of the head of the syndicate, Mamdouh al-Wali, in the voting session on the draft constitution Thursday even though most syndicate members had rejected participating in it. The syndicate board has decided to take disciplinary action against Wali.
