CAIRO - A coalition of police officers Sunday charged three media workers and two writers with slander and undermining the dignity of the whole security apparatus during and after the January 25 Revolution. The coalition members, who launched their own website, said that they would file separate legal complaints against Waeli el-Abrashi, Mahmoud Saad, Mona el-Shazli, novelist Alla el-Aswani and columnist Belal Fadl of Al-Masri el-Youm independent newspaper, accusing them of personal defamation. The charges carry a maximum sentence of three years in prison, or pay fines of 20,000 Egyptian pounds each, lawyers said. The claimants, who head a grouping called the General Coalition of Police Officers, said the the would-be five defendants have recently stepped up criticism of the Egyptian police agency and accused its senior officials of corruption and treason in the talk shows and newspapers they run during and after the revolt. The coalition members have claimed that the five media workers had long held negative views against policemen and slandering them during their shows, or writing articles that are disparaging to the police agency and security services. They said that the works of these five media workers have contained contempt of policemen, damaged their professional reputation and offended them. "We will take these five media workers to court for defaming members of Egypt's police,including senior and junior officers," the coalition members wrote in their website. The three TV presenters and two writers are known for their criticism of the police. "We hold these five media worker liable for the moral and psychological harm we have suffered from their works," the officers wrote.
