By Toqa Ezzidin
Security forces and candidate supporters banned two journalists from covering the first day of the second round of parliamentary elections, Journalists Against Torture reported.
The first is a reporter from the Heart of Egypt newspaper, whom security sources banned on Sunday morning from covering the elections.
“Security sources did not allow me to take photos and asked me to leave the area,” he told Journalists Against Torture, however noting that he does not know why security sources are prohibiting journalists from covering the elections.
The second reporter Hassan Omar Hassanein, from Vetogate, was banned by one candidate supporter from covering the elections, according to Vetogate.
Further, renowned Sinai-based journalist Ahmed Abou Deraa was arrested Saturday when he asked for permission to take photos of a school serving as a polling station.
The Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) released a statement Saturday, banning the privately-owned Al-Faraeen, Sada El-Balad, and CBC channels from broadcasting anything pertaining the elections.
The statement said the mentioned channels broke several laws during the coverage of the first round, and thus are only allowed to broadcast live coverage of the elections and host public political figures during the second round.
However, the nature of violations committed by the channels was not mentioned in the statement.
