(Photo by Omar Korashi)
A group of journalists and human rights defenders gathered Wednesday in front the Press Syndicate accusing former interior minister Mohamed Ibrahim of killing fellow journalist Mayada Ashraf.
Mayada, aged 23, was a reporter for Al-Dostour newspaper when she was shot dead while covering clashes between security forces and protesters in the Ain Shams neighbourhood on 28 March, 2014.
The group, dubbed the “Al-Hosseini committee”, marched from the syndicate to the office of the Prosecutor General to present an official lawsuit.
The lawsuit is filed by Mayada’s father, and is supported and signed by the board of the trustees of the Press Syndicate.
The committee, is named after Al-Hosseini Abu Deif, who was shot dead December 2012 in clashes between supporters and opponents of former president Mohamed Morsi.
Eyewitnesses and journalists said that Mayada was killed by security forces’ fire, while the Ministry of Interior denied the accusations. Instead, the ministry blamed protesters for the journalist’s killing, the committee said.
Currently, 48 alleged Muslim Brotherhood supporters are accused of killing Mayada.
Nevertheless, Wednesday’s march was not the first escalation by journalists against the Ministry of Interior, as since the beginning of the month, private and government-owned newspapers have launched a series of articles rife with critical content about the ministry’s practices and inefficiencies.
In a recent development, head of the Press Syndicate Yahia Qalash met interior minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar Tuesday.
Abdel Ghaffar asserted that the police are keen on cooperating with journalistic entities in the country to “transparently work on publishing the facts for public opinion”.
The minister said that the police accept criticism, adding that “in the current period, the country needs more efforts and cooperation to ensure the interests of the homeland”.
He added the police apparatus “belongs to the people and is currently working under critical conditions”.
However, last week, after privately-owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper published a seven-page special report, repackaging a set of previously published reports on police violations, five journalists were transferred to investigations.
Further, an Al-Dostour newspaper reporter was arrested on 12 April following an Interior Ministry order, after the paper published an investigative report series covering alleged “police violations”.
