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Egypt jails press union chief for spreading false news

Xinhua, November 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced the head of journalists' union and two board members to two years in prison each on charges of spreading false news and harboring two people wanted by authorities, official news agency MENA reported.

The three journalists were also fined 10,000 Egyptian pounds (629 U.S. dollars) each.

The presiding judge said the head of press union Yahya Qalash and the other two members harbored wanted journalist Amr Badr and blogger Mahmoud al-Saaqa inside the syndicate in May in violation to law and the union's rules.

Following the arrest of Badr and al-Saaqa, Qalash demanded that the interior minister step down and the presidency apologize over an alleged police raid to arrest them on charges of inciting protests.

The authorities denied the allegation that police forcibly entered the building, saying they had an arrest warrant and coordinated in advance with the union board members. Endit