CAIRO — On May 1, just two days before World Press Freedom day, Egyptian police raided the Press Syndicate in Cairo and randomly detained a number of journalists as they were working. This measure against media workers represents a dangerous escalation in the security services’ campaign targeting journalists in a country that the Committee to Protect Journalists describes as “among the world’s worst jailers of journalists.”
The crisis between journalists and the security services escalated against the backdrop of April 25 demonstrations protesting the maritime border demarcation agreement that included handing over control of Tiran and Sanafir islands to Saudi Arabia. The security forces had prevented journalists and photographers from covering the protest, and 46 journalists were arrested that day. Members of the Press Syndicate board were also intimidated by groups of pro-government thugs who attacked and surrounded the syndicate’s headquarters and prevented journalists from entering the building April 25.
In response to the random arrests and intimidation faced by journalists, the Press Syndicate and journalists filed a total of 17 motions with the public prosecutor against the interior minister and head of the Cairo Security Directorate. In addition, on April 28, protesters organized marches in which they carried pens and cameras and headed toward the office of the public prosecutor with signs that read “Journalism isn’t a crime,” condemning the police’s recent actions against journalists.
Yet despite the journalists’ "uprising" against these detentions and random arrests, police campaigns targeting them continued. During the May 1 raid on the Press Syndicate, security forces arrested Amr Badr, editor-in-chief of the privately owned online news site Yanair Gate, as well as Mahmoud al-Saqa, a journalist for the same outlet. At the time of their detention, they were participating in a sit-in at the syndicate to protest against the storming of their homes by security forces last month and accusations they face of inciting protests against the state.
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