CAIRO: Journalists' Syndicate Chairman Makram Mohamed Ahmed resigned Tuesday responding to calls by hundreds of journalists. “Ahmed should have resigned at the time when [President Hosni] Mubarak stepped down as he is part of the former regime,” journalist and political analyst Diaa Rashwan told Daily News Egypt. Weekly Sabah El-Kheir magazine journalist Amal Fawzy believes that Ahmed missed his chance to leave respectably because of his belated resignation. “Unfortunately, Ahmed and others reached the point of losing credit over any stance they take for waiting so long to take it,” Fawzy told Daily News Egypt. Based on the syndicate bylaws, the usual procedure in such cases is that the oldest syndicate deputy takes over who is Salah Abdel-Maqsoud, also a Muslim Brotherhood group member. “Then the syndicate board has to be dissolved and new elections must be held shortly,” Rashwan explained, adding that some members currently refused to resign. In September 2009, Rashwan contested the syndicate chairmanship and lost to Ahmed in the run-off elections. Rashwan accused Makram of vote-rigging saying that the security authorities interfered in the electoral process to guarantee that he wins. Ahmed is known for being a supporter of the former regime. He appeared on state TV condemning the January 25 Revolution, which stirred the outrage of hundreds of journalists. During the symbolic funeral of journalist Ahmed Mahmoud, who was killed by a sniper at his office in the early days the revolution, the journalists refused to allow him to take part in the event, shouting slogans against him. Earlier last week, journalists demanded the expulsion of the chief editors of state-owned newspapers and magazines, as well as Ahmed, in retaliation for their stances during the revolution. The journalists further requested the activation of the Supreme Constitutional Court's (SCC) ruling canceling law 100 and holding new elections on March 4, the date of the upcoming general assembly. Journalists demanded legal reforms within the syndicate to ensure democracy and the reformation of the general assemblies and newspaper boards through elections and establishing journalists' committees inside every newspaper. –Additional reporting by Tamim Elyan.
