Egypt's Sisi defends jailing chief journalist

By Mohamed Mahmoud

CAIRO (AA) – Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi has defended a jail verdict against the head of the country’s press union and two board members.

Last week, an Egyptian court sentenced Yehia Qalash and two board members to two years in prison each on charges of hiding two colleagues sought by the authorities at the syndicate’s headquarters.

“This is not an opinion case,” Sisi said in an interview with Portuguese state television channel RTP Tuesday on the sidelines of an official visit to Portugal.

“The case is a criminal one as he is accused of harboring suspects at the syndicate’s headquarters in violation of law,” he added.

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.

The interior ministry, for its part, said the arrest of the two journalists had been carried out in accordance with the law and in line with a warrant issued by Egypt’s prosecutor-general.

-Political prisoners

Sisi denied the presence of thousands of political prisoners in Egyptian jails.

“There are only around 500 people, whose status is being reviewed by the authorities,” he said, adding that 82 people had already been released.

“We act within the law without exception or violation and we do not impose emergency law in Egypt,” Sisi said.

Human rights groups say thousands of people have been detained by Egyptian authorities since the military deposed Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, in a 2013 coup.

Sisi was an army chief at the time and he was later elected president in a 2014 election.

Sisi rejected accusations that the trials of opponents in Egypt were unfair. “These claims tarnish the integrity of the Egyptian judiciary,” he said.