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Journalists' Syndicate bans activist Alaa Abdel Fattah from entry
Alaa Abdel Fattah walks out of Tora Prison after the court released him from custody, on September 15, 2014. Aswat Masriya
CAIRO, Sept 23 (Aswat Masriya) – Journalist's Syndicate Head Diaa Rashwan banned on Tuesday political activist Alaa Abdel Fattah from entering the Syndicate's headquarters for using "profane" vocabulary during a symposium held in the syndicate last week.
Rashwan said in a statement released on the syndicate's website that Abdel Fattah used words which aren't befitting of the syndicate's history and its "well-established traditions". He added that Abdel Fattah's words "insult the free will of Egyptians in their democratic choice."
Abdel Fattah was among the speakers in a symposium hosted by the syndicate's freedoms committee against the protest law on Wednesday.
The protest law, issued by former interim President Adli Mansour in November to regulate peaceful assembly, has long been the epicentre of wide criticism by domestic and international human rights organisations which say it violates international standards for peaceful protests.
Syndicate board members met on Sunday and stressed that while the syndicate "was and shall remain a castle to defend the freedoms and rights of all," it refuses to be a "platform" for "profane" words.
Abdel Fattah was released from custody last week on a 5000 Egyptian pound bail pending his retrial for violating the protest law. The activist was sentenced alongside 24 other defendants to 15 years in prison in June and fined with 100 thousand Egyptian pounds for illegal assembly, among other charges.
Abdel Fattah has been detained three times since the January 25 uprising in 2011, which toppled former President Hosni Mubarak.
In 2011, he was jailed for two months for allegedly assaulting soldiers during attacks by security forces against a predominantly Coptic protest outside the Maspero building in October.
He was arrested from his home in November last year for illegal assembly, blocking roads, attacking a police officer and stealing his radio. Though released in March, Abdel Fattah was sent back to jail on June 11 after the court sentenced him to 15 years in absentia for the same charge.
