CAIRO: Independent newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm published Wednesday several articles in response to the public announcements recently issued by the Arab Doctor’s Union (ADU) addressing what the union says are defamatory statements against its detained chairman Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh.
Aboul Fotouh, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, was arrested in June on charges of terrorism, joining an illegal group and money laundering.
Since Aboul Fotouh’s arrest, Al-Masry Al-Youm has been publishing updates to the case while emphasizing that their information is based on “facts from police records.
The union, however, sees the articles which seem to toe the official line on the case, as “fabricated allegations, according to Mohamed Ali, a member of the union’s media office.
“There is no truth to Al-Masry Al-Youm’s reports, he stressed. “These are complete allegations with the pure intention to ruin Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh’s reputation.
The union’s paid ads in Al-Shorouk and Al-Dostour newspapers were meant to “correct everyone’s perception on the issue, said Ali, and to contest Al-Masry Al-Youm’s claims.
“These ads are not intended to attack Al-Masry Al-Youm but to portray the truth, he added.
In response, the paper published articles condemning the ads, including an editorial by Editor-in-Chief Magdy El Gallad, describing them as “unprofessional attacks on press freedom.
Other articles by Farouk El-Gamal and Mohsen Semeka said that the ads are controversial as well since they caste doubt on the reliability of police records, to which Ali responded by saying that these “so-called records are nothing but “investigative police work, unconfirmed by a court ruling.
He added that the reporter who got this kind of information cannot have taken it from the district attorney, which is the only reliable source.
The union has also filed a complaint against Al-Masry Al-Youm at the Journalists’ Syndicate, to which they have not yet received a response. They intend to file another one to the Supreme Press Council and to continue running these advertisements.
Al-Masry Al-Youm has said that it intends to defend itself anywhere, “even in court.
