CAIRO: Journalists Without Rights group started on Tuesday gathering signatures from members of the Journalists' Syndicate in a bid to dismiss the head of the syndicate Makram Mohamed Ahmed. The group is also calling for a general assembly meeting in order to hold new elections to fill Ahmed's position. The petition comes amid a decision by the Ministry of Finance to impose a 10 percent tax on “technology allowances” — a decision which was approved by Ahmed — as well as "breaking" the promises he gave before his election last December. "He delayed an LE 80 increase in technology allowances, originally LE 530, from January to May and with this illegal tax, the increase will only be LE 20 which we consider an attempt to deceive journalists," Radwan Adam, coordinator of the petition, told Daily News Egypt. "The state likes the idea of journalists begging for money although it is our right. They bribed him to make [false] promises to increase the allowances in order to win the fraudulent elections, but nothing happened," he added. The group also criticized Ahmed's inability to protect journalists' rights or to defy libel cases filed against them. "He pledged a better life for journalists but instead he deprived the syndicate from an income of LE 800,000 by refusing to host political events and didn't fulfill his promise of a new system of payment. Furthermore, he doesn't intervene to enhance the terrible work conditions in private and partisan publications," Adam said. "He gives all the authority to chief editors and never imposes taxes on them, despite them earning tens of thousands every month," he added. According to Adam, the syndicate's board gave Ahmed 48 hours to reconsider his approval of the tax before holding an emergency meeting. The petition organizers will be sending statements to government, private, partisan and foreign publications to collect journalists' signatures. They also want to collect complaints from journalists ahead of a major meeting at the syndicate to be held soon to discuss the issue.
