“A group of thugs threatened me with a knife and snatched my camera,” says journalist Nada Al-Khouli. “This is not the first time I've been attacked while doing my work.” The latest incident occurred two weeks ago as Al-Khouli was covering a protest organised by Mohamed Morsi supporters in her neighbourhood, the east Cairo district of Al-Zaitoun. It is one of a growing number of attacks on journalists covering pro-Morsi rallies reported in the last month. In response, the Press Syndicate announced on Sunday that it was filing official complaints on behalf of members who have been assaulted. The most recent attack came on Friday when Al-Youm Al-Sabei website journalist Aya Hassan was abducted, taken to Al-Nahda Square sit-in and threatened by Morsi supporters who then stole her camera. Hassan says she had been filming a march from the Mustafa Mahmoud Mosque in Mohandessin to the Al-Nahda sit-in when the incident happened. Spotted by pro-Morsi protesters filming as they beat a man, they forced her to Al-Nahda Square. Earlier in August a photographer working for Al-Masry Al-Youm said that he was assaulted and his camera stolen at the Rabaa Al-Adaweya sit-in. On Wednesday unidentified assailants beat Al-Watan correspondent Mahmoud Al-Hosari and stole his camera as he was covering clashes between supporters and opponents of Morsi in Menoufiya. Al-Masry Al-Youm photojournalist Menna Alaa was attacked while filming an assault by pro-Morsi demonstrators against three people during the pro-Morsi sit-in in Nasr City on 19 July. Alaa says she was slapped and her camera taken. Press Syndicate Secretary-General Karem Mahmoud says the syndicate's legal team is at work on a raft of complaints which will be submitted to the prosecutor-general. “These attacks will not intimidate Egyptian journalists. They will continue to convey the truth to the public. Meanwhile, the syndicate will support its members and offer them the legal assistance they need,” he said. The syndicate has received at least 14 reports from members claiming to have been attacked while covering sit-ins in support of ousted president Morsi at Rabaa Al-Adaweya in Cairo and Al-Nahda Square in Giza. On 4 August the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE) listed 21 cases of attacks against journalists between 26 June and 27 July. According to AFTE's report, 14 cases involved assaults on journalists by pro-Morsi protesters, four involved assaults by security officials and three were listed as being perpetrated by “unknown assailants”. The report said attacks included the firing of birdshot, beatings and the theft of cameras. Two assaults resulted in fatalities. Andrew Pochter, an American student and freelance journalist, was fatally stabbed by pro-Morsi protesters in Alexandria on 28 June. Ahmed Assem, a reporter on the Freedom and Justice Party newspaper, was “shot dead by a sniper on 8 July during clashes in front of the Republican Guard Club”. “We will report all assaults and, when available, the identity of the assailants,” says Mahmoud. “Reports will be made according to fellow journalists' testimonies. We will press for the prosecution of those who carried out the attacks and those who incited them.” AFTE sees little change in the treatment of journalists since Morsi's ouster, saying that abuses under the rule of the Brotherhood and of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces are not only continuing but appear to be on the rise. “The Egyptian government's promises need to be backed up by real action in support of press freedom,” says Sherif Mansour, Middle East and North Africa coordinator of the Committee to Protect Journalists. “Putting an end to intimidation and physical attacks is a necessary first step.” In July Interim President Adli Mansour issued a law abolishing prison terms for the crime of insulting the president. On 5 August Mansour issued a decree removing state-owned newspapers from the control of the Shura Council and forming a Supreme Press Council (SPC) to oversee their affairs. The SPC's 15-member board will comprise the head and members of the Press Syndicate, lawmakers and prominent public figures and writers who will serve a four-year term. The new council will be in charge of regulating state media institutions in Egypt until a new constitution is drafted and parliamentary elections are complete.
