Egypt jails 3 anti-coup presenters for ‘false news’

By Mustafa Eid

CAIRO

An Egyptian court on Saturday slapped three anti-coup TV presenters with a 3-year jail term each in absentia for spreading false news.

Egyptian authorities accuse Mohamed Naser, a presenter at the Mekameleen satellite channel, and two other colleagues of incitement and spreading false news.

The presenters, for their part, say they expose human rights abuses committed by Egypt’s military-backed authorities.

Saturday’s verdict, which still can be appealed, came shortly after an Egyptian court slapped the head of Egypt’s press syndicate and two board members with a 2-year jail term each for harboring two journalists sought by the authorities at the syndicate’s headquarters.

In May, police raided the syndicate’s premises in Cairo, arresting the two journalists for allegedly "inciting protests" and "plotting to overthrow the ruling regime".

Syndicate officials have decried the raid -- the first in the syndicate’s history -- as a "blatant assault on journalists’ dignity" and have demanded the interior minister’s dismissal.

Egyptian authorities have launched a harsh crackdown on dissent following the 2013 coup against Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president.

Last year, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said more than 20 journalists had been detained by Egyptian authorities since the coup.