Egyptian Journalist Photographers Stage Protest Against Egyptian Police Aggressions

Egyptian photographers are going to stage a demonstration in front of the Press Syndicate on Saturday morning 11.00AM CLT, protesting at the ill-treatment and aggressions of the Egyptian policemen, to prove the status quo of the treatment against the press and media in Egypt.

This demonstration’s organizers demanded, in a statement, the Egyptian authorities to provide protection for journalist photographers while doing their duties and protecting them exercises of irresponsible policemen who may instigate thugs and bullies to attack and beat photographers and break their cameras.

The statement pointed out that A big number of photographers were injured by aggressions of security elements to the extent that colleague Omar Nabil, the Associated Press photographer, lost his eye in 2005 legislative elections and colleague Khaled Gamal, al-Akhbar photographer who has been recently beaten by thugs while covering the trial of the People’s Assembly member, Emad Al Gildh, while security stopped short of protecting him.

“The Egyptian security is still fighting press photographs through denying photographers access to the People’s Assembly (parliament) sessions and preventing them from covering them, a flagrant violation to their right in exercising press duties” added the statement.

Also, the statement pointed out that the photographers express their solidarity with colleague Sami Al-Hajj, Aljazeera cameraman, and demand immediately releasing him from the US-run torture prison of Guantanamo .

It is worth mentioning that Egyptian press and media are mostly facing incidents of detention and aggregations, the most prominent of which were:
-Egyptian police beat opposition journalists Mohamed Abdul Qoddous and Abdul Halim Kandeel

– Egyptian police arrested journalist Ahmed Ezzuddin who is currently detained pending investigations on Al-Azhar case.

-Hussein Abdul-Ghany, Aljazeera’s Cairo office manager, was detained while covering Dhahab explosions.

-Egyptian police arrested Howaida Taha, a journalist in Aljazeera, and imposed a travel ban on her with several video tapes containing cases of torture inside Egyptian police stations.

-Sexually harassing some Egyptian female journalists while covering 2005 protests against the referendum.