Rift between Press Syndicate, Ministry of Interior amended

CAIRO – 21 May 2017: In a step toward mending the year-long rift between the Ministry of Interior and the Journalists’ Syndicate after security forces stormed the syndicate, Interior Minister Magdi Abdel Ghaffar accepted an invitation to visit the syndicate’s headquarters.

Following a Saturday meeting at the Interior Ministry’s downtown headquarters, Press Syndicate Chairman Abdel Mohsen Salama invited Abdel Ghaffar to visit the syndicate, calling to begin a new chapter between the two bodies.

A potential cooperation protocol will be signed by the ministry and the syndicate per which police personnel will be trained on how to deal with journalists and journalists will be trained on how to avoid security risks during their coverage, Salama said in a press conference following the meeting. The meeting was attended by both officials and Supreme Media Regulatory Council head Makram Mohamed Ahmed.

Around 30 security personnel in plainclothes stormed the syndicate and arrested Amr Badr, editor-in-chief of Yanair online news, and journalist Mahmoud al-Saqqa, who were staging a sit-in against the handover of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, and against the detention of hundreds of people and journalists who protested the handover on April 25.

In early April, Egypt announced that the two islands – Tiran and Sanafir – would be recognized as Saudi territory; both countries reached an agreement per which Egypt relinquished control of the islands, located at the entrance of Al-Aqaba Gulf. The deal stirred public anger across Egypt.