The Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) has denounced the assault of presidential candidate Hamden Sabahi’s proponents on a number of photographers and journalists, during their coverage of clashes between Sabahi’s supporters and opponents.
On the March 4, at Press Syndicate’s headquarters, clashes broke out between supporters and opponents of the potential presidential candidate, during his attendance at a conference organised by Karama Party. The conference was held in order to elect a new president along with a supreme body for the party. The photographers and media professionals shot the clashes between the two sides, and as a result; Sabahi’s supporters started to attack them. Moreover, they held Al Badeel cameraman Ahmed Abdel Gawad for half an hour; besides seizing his camera’s memory card that he managed to regain before his departure.
ANHRI said it believed that the practices of Sabahi’s supporters constituted a clear violations of freedom of expression, and obstruction of journalists and media professionals’ assigned job, which is to convey the truth. Despite the fact that the “ Egyptian Popular Currentâ€- founded by Sabahi- had apologised for such an incident, it is still strongly considered as a sort of abuse committed against media professionals by citizens, which is equal to the abuse committed by the authority against them.
