Compiled photo of journalists assaulted on Monday
CAIRO - 20 December 2018:Medical Syndicates Union member Ehab Heikal announced suspending his participation in the meetings of the union in light of the recent assaults on a number of journalists inside the Pharmacist Syndicate headquarters on Monday.
The Medical Syndicates Union encompasses Pharmacists, Dentists, Medical and Veterinaries Syndicates. Mohie Ebeid, whose guards have been reported responsible for the recent assaults, is the head of the Pharmacists Syndicate and deputy head of the Syndicates Union.
Heikal, General Union of Dentists high-level official, denounced in a statement the recent attacks carried out against four journalists from several newspapers, saying that it is not the first attack to take place inside the [headquarters] of the Pharmacists Syndicate .
In his statement, Heikal said that he feels he is no more able to fulfill the duties and responsibilities he was elected to carry out amid "an atmosphere of bullying and attempts to control and impose certain people on the Medical Syndicates Union by force in violation of the law."
"I declare today, as I was raised in the house of a professor of law, who taught me the meaning and importance of respecting law,that I am no longer honored to be a member of a [union] with a bully who uses criminals to [attack] fellow pharmacists and journalists to control the capabilities of the union, even if it costs lives," he stated.
Heikal commented on the assault incident, "Breaking the journalists' equipment and confiscating their telephones was not the straw but the sword that broke the camel's back."
Security personnel at the Egyptian Pharmacists Syndicate assaulted four journalists and took their phones, including Mohamed el-Garnoussi and Atef Badr from Al-Masry al-Yom, EsraaSoliman from Al-Watan and Aya Debes from Youm7. A security guard of the syndicate was subsequently arrested and detained for four days pending investigation.
Writer and CEO of Youm7 Khaled Salah condemned the "crime" committed against the journalists, and held Ebeid responsible for the attack. Salah also called on pharmacists to confront such barbarism.
The Press Syndicate denounced the assault of four journalists and the detention of 15 others inside the Pharmacists Syndicate while covering the syndicate's election. The Press Syndicate referred that the attack was carried out by the security guard of Mohie Ebeid, head of the Pharmacists Syndicate.
It also announced in a statement on Monday, following the incident, that it would file complaints to General Prosecutor Nabil Sadek against Ebeid, saying that the attacks that caused injuries in the body, face and eyes of the journalists will not pass unpunished.
In response to the wave of criticism, Ebeid issued a demand to General Prosecutor Sadek asking for a publication ban in the issue.
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