CAIRO: Journalist at weekly tabloid Sout Al-Umma, Alaa Al-Gamal, who was subjected to violent assault by police officers allegedly upon orders from the Ministry of Interior, has threatened to sue a ministry official for libel on behalf of his uncle.
The libel suit comes in response to allegations made by Ahmed Gamal Eldin, Director of the Department for the Implementation of Judicial Rulings at the Interior Ministry, on popular Mehwar TV program “90 Minutes .
Gamal Eldin had said Al-Gamal’s assault claims were unfounded and that the Ministry of Interior and the police were “absolutely fine with what Al-Gamal wrote.
He went on to explain that the police were searching for Al-Gamal’s uncle, who he described as a wanted criminal. Authorities, he said, mixed up the names and accidentally searched Al-Gamal’s home before going to Assiut to find his uncle.
Al-Gamal, however, denied that his uncle is involved in any criminal activity.
He alleges that he was harassed and physically assaulted by security forces who raided his home on June 30. Forces then continued their raids and intimidation through last week, reportedly going into his home six times between July 10 and 11.
Al-Gamal explained to Daily News Egypt in a telephone interview that no further raids have occurred since then, but that undercover police are still monitoring his movements. He alleges that they are stationed outside his home and following him throughout the day.
He says that the assault was in retaliation for a series of stories he had written exposing the transfer of high-ranking police officers to different posts despite committing criminal acts or serious abuses.
His main expose was published nearly three weeks ago, just before the raids began. Al-Gamal believes the piece titled “Police generals promoted to ‘criminals’ rank is the reason behind the violent crackdown on him and his family.
The Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) is currently providing counsel to Al-Gamal. Nafisa El-Sabagh, an employee at the rights group, said that much of Al-Gamal’s article was based on an official report by the Ministry of Interior regarding violations by police generals.
Moreover, she said, there were no formal charges against him yet, but that the raids were legal under the emergency law. Such searches and raids are highly controversial. Al-Gamal contends that the raids were in violation of the law.
In addition to raiding his home, Al-Gamal said that security forces surrounded the homes of his relatives in his hometown of Assiut in Upper Egypt. These reportedly included 35 vehicles and officers who claimed that they were looking for illegal weapons.
People in the neighborhood were also told that Al-Gamal was wanted for assaulting an officer, which Al-Gamal claims is a slanderous spread of false rumors. Al-Gamal, ANHRI and the Journalists Syndicate plan to unleash a series of complaints at various authorities seeking recourse and explanation in the case. ANHRI will issue a memo to the Deputy General of the Ministry of Interior about the reporter s harassment. The Journalists Syndicate is lodging a complaint with the Prosecutor General asking for an investigation of the police officers in question.
And Al-Gamal is also placing an inquiry with the Ministry of Interior, simply demanding to know what is going on here.
According to El-Sabagh, this is the first time that Al-Gamal has had any trouble with the ministry. However, charges had been filed against him in a defamation case by MP Mohamed Abdel Moe ty. Al-Gamal had previously published articles about MP violations and trading in state-owned lands.
Sout Al-Umma staff have also run into trouble in the past. In 2007 several individuals were sentenced to one to two month terms for publishing “false news , sentences which were later appealed and dropped. In another case this February charges were dropped against the weekly s editor Abdel Halim Qandil, but fines for his offense were upheld.
One of Al-Gamal s colleagues, Mahmoud El-Dabaa, also came under fire and his home was raided, though not with the frequency or intensity with which Al-Gamal was targeted, Al-Gamal said.
During a telephone interview with Daily News Egypt, Makram Mohamed Ahmed, chairman of the Journalists Syndicate, reiterated the Syndicate’s support for Al-Gamal.
Ahmed said he will follow the case closely after returning from vacation on Saturday. He confirmed that the Syndicate filed complaints with the Prosecutor General and Ministry of Interior requesting a wide investigation into who ordered the raids and who was involved in the raids.
We are standing by every journalist that is in trouble, he said.
Al-Gamal is concerned but undeterred, saying I will continue writing to the end and will not be terrorized. I have a message which I believe in. -Additional reporting by Raghda El-Halawany.
