Egypt's press syndicate 'concerned' over detention conditions of journalists - statement

Wednesday 12-08-2015 03:32 PM
Egypt's press syndicate 'concerned' over detention conditions of journalists - statement

Protest outside the Press Syndicate in support of imprisoned activists who are on a hunger strike, on August 25, 2014 - Emad Ahmed - Aswat Masriya

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CAIRO, Aug 12 (Aswat Masriya) - Egypt's press syndicate is "seriously concerned" over the "worsening health conditions" of detained colleagues who are "deprived of proper health care," it said on Wednesday.

The syndicate said it has received complaints from families of detained and imprisoned journalists, especially at Tora's high-security Aqrab prison in Cairo.

Magdy Hussein, chief editor of al-Shaab newspaper, has been suffering from a fever and weight loss due to "being denied health care for a long time," his wife told the press syndicate.

Hussein, a leading figure of the pro-Mohamed Mursi Anti-Coup Alliance, was arrested in July 2014. 

The syndicate called for transferring Hussein and two other detained journalists to hospital to receive health care.

"[The syndicate] holds the Interior Ministry and the prisons authority fully responsible if [the detainees] are subjected to any danger," the statement read. 

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a report on press freedom in Egypt published in June that the state's imprisonment of journalists is at "an all-time high". It counted at least 18 journalists behind bars in relation to their reporting.

The syndicate used the same toll in its statement, also describing it as the "highest" since it began documenting journalists' detention in 1990.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi denied on Monday that any journalists are detained in Egypt in cases related to publishing or press freedom.

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