CAIRO: Six dissident journalists and crew members calling for media freedoms within state-run TV were referred to investigation Sunday upon orders by the minister of information, who also filed complaints to the prosecutor.
In addition to the internal investigation, Information Minister Ahmed Anis accused the six of vandalism, endangering national security, and disrupting the work process in a complaint to the Prosecutor General’s office, according to TV director Abdellatif Abou Hemela.
On Feb. 13, over 250 Maspero workers protested in front of the minister’s office for eight hours, demanding to talk to him. When they got no response, they toured the entire building, called Maspero, chanting against Anis and the political leadership for interfering in the editorial policy of state-owned media.
"Around 8:30 pm, we arrived to studio of Studio 27 show, which is the main show aired on Channel One, after we failed to convince the channel’s head to host us to talk about our demands and to receive a call in by Anis to respond to us," Abou Hemela told Daily News Egypt on Monday.
"Our request was rejected and they aired a rerun of an old episode instead of the live show, since we were protesting in front of the show’s studio. They feared that our voices could be heard if the show was on air," he added.
The protesters aimed to echo another attempt by a director in the Nile News channel, Ihab El-Mergawy, who raised a banner that said: "Freedom for Nile News Channel," which was visible from the glass behind the anchor of "Al-Mash-had" (The View).
El-Mergawy was suspended for two weeks and referred to Maspero’s internal investigations office as Anis accused him of storming the studio, disrupting the work process and squandering public funds, according to a statement published by Association of Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE).
AFTE said its lawyer was denied access to the investigations room although he was permitted to enter the building.
"El-Mergawy did not have access to the disciplinary bylaws that regulate the investigations process in Maspero, which are always dealt with as top secret by Maspero’s administration," AFTE statement said, adding that this violates the right of knowledge and access to information inside the state institutions.
Abou Hemela said that last week’s protest was filmed by Maspero administration using the building’s internal monitoring cameras. The footage was used to identify the protesting workers. At first, 45 were referred to investigations.
"The number then was lowered to 33 and finally to six protesting employees, the ones who always take part in Tahrir Square protests and sit-ins," Abou Hemela explained.
He added that the employees in question are yet to be interrogated and have not yet received an official notification from the internal investigations committee inside Maspero or from the prosecutor.
"We are keen to attend the interrogation, but we need official notifications first," he said.
"We did not disturb the work process; we did not storm the studio which was not running any episode on air, just a rerun for an old episode. Nothing can be held against us."
