Assault on journalists THE PRESS Syndicate has condemned the use of force against peaceful protesters in Qasr Al-Aini Street. In a statement the syndicate rejected any justification by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to use force against any Egyptian citizen. The statement said the new cabinet had failed in its first practical test after Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzouri promised not to use violence against protesters under any circumstances. The statement said that attacks on journalists covering the clashes, especially on 18 November and 16 December, are a continuation of a series of apparently systematic attacks on journalists and an attack on the freedom of speech. "SCAF is fully responsible for such assaults, and we call on civil society, political forces and all believers in freedom of expression to show their concern over the issue and confront the attacks against media outlets and personnel." Many journalists have been beaten by army police during the clashes. Ashraf El-Wardani, a journalist from the daily Al-Masaai, was detained inside the People's Assembly and beaten by security forces when he showed his press identity card. The military also attacked TV reporters and smashed their video cameras. The Committee to Protect Journalists, an American NGO, reported that Evan Hill, an online producer for Al-Jazeera English, was beaten and briefly detained by security forces on Friday in Cairo's Cabinet building. His phone, camera, and passport were confiscated. Hill wrote on Twitter: "Soldiers and men in plainclothes beat me with batons, wooden sticks and once with a crowbar before I was taken inside." On Saturday, the transmission tower of the local TV production company Cairo News Company (CNC), in the Ismailia Hotel near Tahrir Square, was raided by 30 army soldiers, according to CNC. The soldiers threw the company's filming and transmission equipment worth $100,000 out a window, CNC said. Defending the helpless PRESIDENTIAL contender Hazem Abu Ismail declared on 20 December he had launched a campaign to mobilise Egyptians to defend "weak women and helpless citizens" from the violence of military forces. Abu Ismail said his campaign was meant to protect judges responsible for supervising parliamentary elections against any possible attack by military police. "The blood of protesters which was shed throughout the last few days in the clashes on Qasr Al-Aini Street is on the hands of the Armed Forces. I will protect Egyptians by myself if necessary," Abu Ismail said. Bloody clashes between protesters and the army began on 16 December after demonstrators attempted to break up by force a three-week-long sit-in against military rule. The death toll has reached 13, with more than 600 injured. Several human rights violations committed by the Armed Forces against demonstrators are documented in video footage and photographs widely circulated on the Internet, triggering local outrage. Among them is video evidence of three military policemen kicking a young veiled woman, beating her with batons, then stripping her down to her underclothes before being dragged on the street. The Egyptian Judges' Club announced that some 600 judges monitoring the second round of Egypt's parliamentary elections were physically assaulted by army soldiers following complaints about the performance of the Armed Forces deployed at polling stations. A group of judges reportedly resigned shortly afterwards to protest against the attacks. Medical march HUNDREDS of Ain Shams University students protested at the killing of Alaa Abdel-Hadi, a student in the Faculty of Medicine, during military clashes with protesters in Qasr Al-Aini Street on Friday. Abdel-Hadi was a volunteer in the field hospitals in Tahrir Square and was shot in the chest while administering medical aid to an injured protester. An autopsy said that someone "standing very close" to Abdel-Hadi shot him with a 15cm bullet from a rifle. Most of the protesters killed during the clashes were shot from close range. Around 2,000 students marched to the Ministry of Defence demanding that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) hand over power to a civilian authority and hold Abdel-Hadi's killer accountable. SCAF member Hassan El-Roweini told protesters the military was "doing its best" to arrest Abdel-Hadi's killer, adding that the army "has never used live ammunition against an Egyptian citizen." Students continued to march to the Ministry of Defence, ignoring El-Roweini's appeals to return to the university. The students demanded the university administration halt the academic year until the SCAF leaves power and finds Abdel-Hadi's assailant. Publisher wanted MOHAMED Hashem of Merit Publishing has announced his intention to file a lawsuit against the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) for libel. According to Hashem, the government sought to put him on trial after SCAF claimed he incited violence in the downtown area. Hashem told a press conference that his lawyers informed him that the general prosecution had issued a warrant for his arrest for alleged involvement in the recent clashes in Qasr Al-Aini Street in front of the Cabinet. "I asked my lawyer to file a lawsuit against the SCAF," he said. At a press conference on 19 December, a member of SCAF presented a video of Hashem distributing safety equipment to protesters, which he claimed made the publisher an accessory in the recent clashes. Hashem said he was "honoured" to provide protective equipment to the protesters in Tahrir. "Do they want to kill and injure people while we sit and watch?" Hashem said he would continue to support the revolution, as he has since it began on 25 January, "no matter what happens". In solidarity with Hashem, prominent figures in the Egyptian art scene released a statement expressing their "full appreciation of the role" he had played in the revolution. The Egyptian Publishers Union also expressed support for Hashem in a unanimously approved statement issued on Monday.
