The Ministry of the Interior agreed with the Press Syndicate to send 100 helmets and bullet-proof vests to protect journalists while covering violent clashes this week, following the killing of a journalist who had been covering the demonstrations. The new equipment will be distributed to different newspapers according to the number of reporters covering incidents in the streets. The cost of a single vest is believed to be LE10,000. It was on 28 March that Mayada Ashraf, a 21-year-old reporter at the Al-Dostour newspaper, was shot dead by a bullet to the head while covering clashes between the Muslim Brotherhood and the police in Ain Shams, an eastern Cairo suburb. Over the past year, six journalists have been killed, but Ashraf's death marks the first case in 2014 and the tenth since the ousting of former president Hosni Mubarak in 2011. The following day, dozens of reporters protested in front of the Press Syndicate in Cairo in order to condemn the killing. Angry journalists held up banners carrying the name of killed journalists, while others shouted out slogans condemning the killings. The protesting journalists also chanted slogans against Chairman of the Press Syndicate Diaa Rashwan, accusing him of not taking proper measures to secure journalists while working. They also chanted against the police, accusing them of targeting reporters who were just doing their jobs. The journalists also warned of what they called a “journalists' uprising” in response to the violations against them. Fathia Al-Dakhakhni, a journalist, expressed her views about the helmets and bullet-proof vests to be distributed among the journalists. “There are more than 4,000 members of the syndicate. If only a quarter of them cover dangerous incidents, the number of helmets and vests are clearly insufficient,” she said. In her view, the journalists were being given “pain killers” instead of the means to solve the problem. “In other countries, journalists and reporters feel totally secure. Their lives are protected, unlike in Egypt where helmets and vests are given to a certain percentage only,” Al-Dakhakhni added. Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim held a press conference in which he announced that the police was not responsible for Ashraf's death. “I beseech all reporters covering such dangerous events to be on the side of the security forces, who will be able to secure and protect them,” Ibrahim said. Rashwan met with angry reporters to inform them that he had delivered an official request to prosecutor-general Hisham Barakat asking him to keep the syndicate updated with the results of the investigations. “I have also asked Minister of Justice Nayer Othman to commission a judge to start investigating the murder of Ashraf,” he said. Rashwan announced that he would provide Ashraf with honourary membership of the Press Syndicate in order to provide her parents with an appropriate pension. “Next week, the syndicate will start providing membership to temporary reporters, Egyptian journalists working abroad, and foreigners working in Egypt because their newspapers are exploiting them,” Rashwan said. The syndicate requested the International Union of Journalists to send trainers in the Middle East to Egypt to train Egyptian reporters on how to protect themselves while working, especially while covering potentially deadly incidents. “This training will be in cooperation with security experts from Egypt,” Rashwan said. The syndicate is currently working with insurance companies to discuss means of providing insurance policies for those in dangerous work. “Newspapers will be obliged to apply these policies for all reporters who cover dangerous events,” Rashwan stated. After Ashraf's death, the editor-in-chief of Al-Dostour sent a plea to the Health Ministry to transport Ashraf's body out of the area. Ahmed Al-Ansari, head of the Ambulance Authority, said that Ashraf had been shot in the head, with the bullet exiting her right cheek. “The ambulance vehicles couldn't reach Ashraf, who received a fatal shot and died on the spot. The minister of interior then sent an armoured vehicle to escort the ambulance to the Al-Sheikh Ebeid Mosque, where Ashraf's body was laid to rest,” Al-Ansari said. The body was later transferred to the Heliopolis Hospital. Journalists at the hospital later prevented Rashwan from entering the building. Rashwan then said that he would attend the investigations into the killing with the only eyewitness, journalist Ahlam Hassanein. Hanan Fekri, a member of the Press Syndicate, criticised the law governing the press. “As long as the law does not change in favour of journalists, there will be an ongoing crisis between us and the syndicate,” she said. Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb agreed to consider Ashraf a “martyr of the revolution,” making her family eligible for a pension from the government. The Popular Current Party, headed by presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi, has called on the authorities to start an investigation into the death of Ashraf. According to a statement, the authorities should swiftly identify who was responsible for her murder, the party said. The party's statement held the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters responsible for the violence in the country. It called on the Press Syndicate to carry out its responsibility to defend the rights and lives of journalists and to ensure that press institutions provide insurance for journalists who cover dangerous events, as well as mandatory safety measures. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an NGO, also issued a statement condemning the death of Ashraf and calling for a swift investigation into the case. The statement drew attention to the fact that the ambulance had been unable to reach Ashraf for more than three hours, due to the clashes between the police and the protesters. The coordinator of the CPJ's Middle East and North Africa programme, Sherif Mansour, said that he wanted to see “the government open an independent and impartial investigation into Ashraf's killing.” The statement also condemned all other violations committed against journalists, and listed Egypt as the “third deadliest” country for journalists in 2013. It said that the second half of this year had seen an increase in the violence used against journalists. “The police detained dozens of journalists. They also raided news outlets and confiscated press equipment. Such practices are killing the press,” read the statement. The CPJ documented at least 71 violations against the press from July to October of last year. Several journalists, including Abdallah Al-Shami of the Al-Jazeera satellite channel, are still in prison awaiting charges. Al-Shami was arrested outside the Rabaa Al-Adaweya sit-in in Cairo last August and has since been in prison. Three other Al-Jazeera journalists were arrested on 29 December last year and face charges such as distorting the image of Egypt abroad and fabricating news to support the Muslim Brotherhood.
