CAIRO: Prominent political analyst Amr El-Choubaki quit writing for Al-Wafd, the official newspaper of Al-Wafd opposition party, in response to the recent crisis that led to sacking Al-Dostor editor-in-chief Ibrahim Eissa. “I know that Al-Wafd party was not part of Al-Dostor's bargain. But the party head Al-Sayed Al-Badawy and party member Reda Edward were behind the [crisis],” El-Choubaki told Daily News Egypt Tuesday. The weekly column of El-Choubaki, also a senior researcher at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies (ACPSS), was supposed to appear Monday in Al-Wafd. El-Choubaki also decided not to oversee the weekly salon of Al-Wafd party. “My decision is an objection to the way the situation was handled and [a call for] tackling the whole issue … in a way that preserves the rights and interests of Al-Dostor's reporters,” El-Choubaki. The salon's first evening was supposed to host writer Fahmy Howaidy on Tuesday to discuss citizenship. “I felt that it was not right to continue writing for Al-Wafd and running the salon while the crisis persists,” El-Choubaki. Al-Dostor was co-owned by Al-Badawy before he sold his shares to the other co-owner, Edward. They bought the paper together in August from the founder Essam Ismail Fahmy. Eissa said in media statements following his sacking on Oct. 4 that the new management had recurrently attempted to alter the editorial policy of the newspaper, which stirred tension between the two sides. Edward later said that advertisers were the one who called for firing Eissa. Al-Dostor was the most outspoken newspaper that criticized the regime and the government. Many analysts and journalists said the fallout between the publisher and the editor has been orchestrated by the regime. “It is an attempt to end the newspaper via the use of [Al-Badawy's money],” Gamal Fahmy, Journalists' Syndicate board member, previously told Daily News Egypt. “Neither Al-Badawy nor his Al-Wafd party represent real opposition,” he added. “I still find it [weird] that the head of a major opposition party gets involved in such a [bargain] … that ended Al-Dostor,” El-Choubaki said.
