Journalists Syndicate rallies lawmakers to ban jail terms for publishing
Speakers at a Journalists Syndicate Freedoms Committee seminar on Saturday demanded swift legislation banning prison terms in publishing cases, reviving a draft bill stalled for 12 years.
The seminar focused on a draft bill prohibiting prison sentences in publishing cases, born out of the syndicate’s sixth conference in December 2024 to improve conditions for Egyptian journalists.
Participants urged lawmakers to back the bill, expand debate with legal experts, and overhaul counterterrorism and cybercrime laws to align them with constitutional guarantees.
Journalists Syndicate Head Khaled Elbalshy called the draft bill a crucial starting point to address long-standing challenges, emphasizing that laws alone cannot succeed without the collective will to enforce them.
Speaking by phone at the seminar, Elbalshy noted that work on the first comprehensive draft law banning imprisonment in publishing cases began in 2014, but was shelved due to a lack of political will to pass it, despite being a key piece of legislation complementing the constitution.
In 2014, the Journalists Syndicate and the Committee of 50 drafting the constitution appointed a three-member panel to draft legislation banning prison sentences for press offenses. The committee comprised constitutional law professor Dr. Ali Abdel Aal, who later served as speaker of the House of Representatives, the late Al-Ahali editor-in-chief Hussein Abdel Razek, and Khaled Elbalshy, then head of the syndicate’s Freedoms Committee.
Ten years after the original proposal, the syndicate’s sixth general conference in December 2024 tackled press legislation through a committee led by journalist Mohamed Bassal, Elbalshy said. The committee revised the bill banning prison terms to address recent punitive laws, creating a draft that embodies the collective will of Egyptian journalists.
The draft bill underwent revisions to refine its scope, Elbalshy added, calling on lawmakers to pass the law to guarantee broader freedoms and protect societal peace. He emphasized that imprisonment for expression is unacceptable, as long as it does not constitute defamation, discrimination or incitement to violence.
Elbalshy stressed that journalists do not oppose accountability, provided it remains within constitutional and legal bounds. Correction, rather than arrests or sweeping accusations, should always be the first step, he said, noting that defending press freedom is not about seeking special privileges, but safeguarding a universal right.
Right of society, not just journalists
Eman Ouf, rapporteur of the Freedoms Committee at the Journalists Syndicate, said the syndicate’s draft bill relies on Article 71 of the constitution and does not grant journalists complete immunity. While incitement to violence, discrimination, and defamation remain punishable under other laws, Ouf noted that 12 years after the constitution’s adoption, neither this bill nor the freedom of information law has been enacted.
Warning that 26 journalists are currently jailed, Ouf cautioned that arrests could grow without legal protections, noting that threats increasingly target reporters carrying out routine coverage of daily life.
She cited a lawsuit filed by the local sanitation company in Qena governorate against a journalist who broadcast a live stream about sewage on a street, who was then accused of inciting public opinion and spreading false news.
The Journalists Syndicate does not distinguish between member and non-member journalists when providing defense against prosecution for their work, Ouf said.
Rights lawyer Nabeh Elganadi noted that failing to ban prison terms for publishing offenses harms broader society’s right to knowledge and free expression, not just journalists.
Reviewing legislation
Elganadi, who is defending several imprisoned journalists, noted that journalists are tried under the anti-terrorism law and face accusations of incitement or committing terrorist offenses, rather than offenses related to publishing.
He explained that the multiplicity of penalties and legislation, including the anti-cyber and information technology crimes law, can lead to the imprisonment of journalists for what they publish, citing the imprisonment of Al Manassa cartoonist Ashraf Omar and activist Ahmed Douma.
Pointing out that the 2014 constitution’s free speech guarantees remain unfulfilled, he called for bringing media legislation into line with constitutional protections and ending the practice of prosecuting journalists under counterterrorism laws.
Mohamed Saad Abdel Hafeez, deputy head of the Journalists Syndicate, noted a “barrage of legislation that allows imprisonment in publishing cases,” and stressed the need to review existing laws to ensure they respect constitutional press freedoms.
He stressed that the constitution explicitly bans prison sentences for publishing offenses. However, three parliamentary terms after its adoption, no political bloc has moved to update existing laws to match that commitment.
Abdel Hafeez called on journalists and lawmakers to champion legislative proposals to achieve this goal, stressing the need for a broad pressure group, from the syndicate to wider society, to defend press freedom as a right for all, not just journalists.
Rights lawyer Asmaa Naim emphasized the need to support the Journalists Syndicate in preparing a coherent draft law that guarantees the protection of press freedom, calling for broad discussions on the project with the participation of legal experts.
She noted that vague charges of spreading false news or joining terrorist groups are routinely used against journalists without specifying the group or news item in question. Article 41 of the 1996 Press Regulation Law originally banned prison sentences for publishing offenses, except for insulting the president, an exception repealed by presidential decree in August 2012.
She explained that the Press and Media Regulation Law No. 180 of 2018 ignored the issue, contributing to prolonged detentions and turning pretrial detention into a de facto punishment. Freedom of expression does not grant journalists immunity from criticism or correction, she stressed, but it must protect them from imprisonment for doing their jobs.
A parliamentary promise
In the first parliamentary move, Atef El-Maghawry, head of the parliamentary bloc for the Tagammu Party, promised to begin collecting signatures from members of the House of Representatives on Sunday for a draft law to stop imprisonment in publishing cases, in preparation for moving the project within parliament.
Speaking at the seminar, he added that while the press was traditionally known as the fourth estate, efforts to diminish its role threaten to reduce it to the “20th estate.” Parliament cannot fulfill its oversight role without an independent press to expose shortcomings and monitor state institutions, he emphasized.
The father of Al Manassa cartoonist Ashraf Omar, who has been held in pretrial detention since his arrest from his home on July 22, 2024, called on the Journalists Syndicate to urge a reset in relations between security authorities and individuals targeted with fabricated terrorism charges simply for expressing peaceful views.
The seminar comes days after authorities arrested the entire newsroom of the independent Matsadaash platform. On Sept. 29, the outlet announced the arrests of editors Mohamed Ashraf Abou Emeira and Abdallah Qadri, followed by journalists Islam Barakat, Mohamed Adel, Mohamed Mahmoud, and Omar Hilal.
The Ministry of Interior later confirmed the detentions, accusing the outlet of operating as a Muslim Brotherhood media committee, a claim Matsadaash denied.
The Supreme State Security Prosecution ordered the six held for 15 days in pretrial detention for allegedly joining a terrorist group and spreading false news, relying on National Security Sector investigations that accused them of inciting protests.
The detentions sparked allegations of torture, which the Ministry of Interior denied without launching an investigation. The prosecution claimed Thursday that Authority of Forensic Medicine reports proved three of the six journalists bore no signs of violence. In response, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights criticized the forensic referral for failing to hear the journalists as victims of physical and psychological coercion by National Security Sector officers.
The rights group noted that prosecutors ignored the journalists’ statements detailing how they were illegally forced to record fabricated confessions, and failed to summon the accused officers for questioning.