Cairo: An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced three prominent journalists to a suspended year in prison each, commuting a two-year jail sentence given months ago by a lower court in a high-profile case, legal sources said.
The decision by the Appeals Misdemeanour Court in South Cairo was in response to appeals filed by former head of the Journalists’ Syndicate Yahya Qallash; an ex-member of the union’s board Khaled Al Balshy; and incumbent board member Jamal Abdul Rehim, against the earlier verdict.
The chief judge announced that the new ruling will be suspended for three years.
None of the defendants attended the court proceedings, the sources added.
Last November, Qallash and his two colleagues, were awarded a two-year jail sentence after being convicted of harbouring two opposition journalists charged with inciting unauthorised anti-government protests.
In May last year, police raided the syndicate’s building in central Cairo and arrested the two journalists.
The unprecedented raid on the office of 75-year old journalists union sparked angry protests by journalists, but also triggered divisions within the media community.
Pro-government journalists accused Qallash and the union’s then board of politicising the crisis and antagonising state institutions, but Qallash’s supporters said freedom of the press was at the heart of his dispute with authorities.
On March 17, Qallash lost his bid to be the union’s chairman for a second term in a highly polarised election. Pro-state journalist Abdul Mohssen Salama was elected as the new chief.
