CAIRO: Five journalists being tried for violating the press ban on the Suzanne Tamim murder case were present at the South Cairo Misdemeanor Court Dec. 4 to see their case adjourned to Jan. 8.
The journalists, from Al-Masry Al-Youm and Al-Wafd newspapers including their two chief editors were being tried for violating the press ban on the details of the Tamim murder case.
Al-Masry Al-Youm editor Magdy El-Gallad along with reporters Yousri El-Badri and Farouk El-Dessouki had already been taken in for a five-hour interrogation by the Prosecutor General’s office soon after the press ban.
Al-Wafd editor Abbas El-Tarabili and journalist Ibrahim Qaraa also stood trial.
“This was a procedural hearing, El-Badri told Daily News Egypt, “because we had not been officially been requested to attend the session. Our lawyers wanted to peruse the case files, and were told it would be made available at the court on the day.
“The postponement was for us to see the case files, so we can prepare the defense. There might be a verdict in the next session if the judge wants to close the case, he added.
Outside journalists protested when they were not permitted entry into the courtroom unless they had a permit from the head of the court Mahmoud Zaher.
Head of the freedoms committees in the Journalists’ Syndicate Mohammed Abdel-Quddous was also present and as he voiced his objections he was taken inside by security officers.
When he emerged from inside the courthouse he said, “The trial of journalists today tarnishes Egypt’s reputation abroad and shows it as an oppressive and corrupt country to the whole world.
The presiding judge on the Tamim case, Al-Mohammadi Qunsua decided that the media could no longer report on the details of the case, but could only report court decisions in the case of an adjournment or verdict.
This case concerns the publishing of the testimony of one of the witnesses, but the reporters have denied the charges, stating that they published the witness testimony from the prosecution s investigations and additionally from accounts by two lawyers representing Tamim s father, Abdel-Sattar.
We printed the testimony of the witness from his questioning by the prosecutor, not from the details of what happened inside the court room, El-Badri previously said.
Construction mogul Hisham Talaat Moustafa and former police officer Mohsen Al-Sokkary are currently standing trial for the murder of Lebanese singer Tamim which took place in Dubai July 28.
