The Journalists Syndicate has said it is forming a panel to be tasked with monitoring the detention conditions of reporters arrested and tried over charges of involvement in Muslim Brotherhood protests.
The panel will be responsible for monitoring the situation of four journalists, standing trial among 51 defendants, including the Muslim Brotherhood’s Supreme Guide, Mohamed Badie, over charges of inciting violence during the group’s sit-in in Rabaa al-Adaweya Square, following the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
Last Saturday, Cairo Criminal Court sentenced Badie and 13 others to death, while 37 others were sentenced to life imprisonment in the case known in the media as the “Rabaa task force case”.
“The panel has began its work amid difficult circumstances, and has only one way to proceed, that is, to stand up to anyone who violates press freedoms”, said the syndicate’s undersecretary, Khaled al-Balshy.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
