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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 May 1999 Issue No. 428 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 May 1999 Issue No. 428
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Special Focus Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters 'Fake' journalist arrested
By Shaden ShehabPolice have arrested a man who claimed he was a journalist, set up an independent press union and appointed himself the chairman.
Hussein El-Moetini, who was arrested on Saturday, is accused of forgery for claiming that he is a journalist, the chairman of a press syndicate and the chief editor of a newspaper on his identification papers. He has also been accused of setting up a professional union without registering it with the Public Notary. The syndicate was set up last year.
Police have also impounded the apartment which was used as the union's head office and restored it to its original owner.
El-Moetini had obtained a union licence from the Ministry of Social Affairs but it was recently suspended by the Public Notary. The employee who had helped him obtain the licence has been dismissed and questioned by prosecutors.
Last year, Makram Mohamed Ahmed, chairman of the Press Syndicate, filed a complaint with the prosecutor-general contesting the legality of the new union. The complaint stated that El-Moetini, who claims to have established a syndicate for independent journalists, had violated the Press Syndicate's law by assuming a professional identity, that of a journalist, which is not his own. A few weeks ago, Ahmed filed another complaint, stating that El-Moetini was circulating his weekly newspaper Sahebat Al-Galala (Her Majesty) -- a common way of referring to the press -- without permission from the relevant authorities.
Other prominent writers and journalists have also filed complaints against El-Moetini, whom they accuse of trying to break the ranks of journalists.
For his part, El-Moetini has initiated several lawsuits against the Press Syndicate, contesting its legality and demanding the appointment of a legal custodian and the indefinite postponement of Syndicate elections. Two of these lawsuits have been rejected but a third is still pending.
El-Moetini's organisation had 14 members, who described themselves as journalists but had not qualified for membership of the Press Syndicate. Some of them are employed by privately-owned newspapers and magazines, while others work for opposition newspapers but are not officially members of staff.
To qualify for Syndicate membership, a journalist must be a university graduate and officially work for a press organisation which is under the umbrella of the Supreme Press Council.
When the new union was set up, its spokesman, Ashraf El-Sweissi, told Al-Ahram Weekly that he considered the move legal. Referring to Article 56 of the Constitution, El-Sweissi argued that "establishment of syndicates and unions on a democratic basis is a right guaranteed by law". "Moreover, Law 31 of 1948 gives any group of people practising the same profession the right to establish their own syndicate," said El-Sweissi. "Therefore, the Constitution allows for the establishment of more than one syndicate for the same profession, and so does the law."
El-Sweissi argued that there is no law that specifies conditions for the establishment of a syndicate. "There is only Law 76 for 1970 that regulates the profession," he said.
Salama Ahmed Salama, managing editor of Al-Ahram and a prominent columnist, said that the "legal action [against the union] came late because it should have been initiated once the union opened". He said the delay appeared to be intentional because neither the prosecutor-general nor the Supreme Press Council responded to the complaint filed last year by the chairman of the Press Syndicate.
Salama described the situation as confusing, but said: "It may be that there is a wish to delay the Press Syndicate elections and make the Syndicate face the same fate of other syndicates which have been placed under legal custodians."
Salama added that another possibility could be "that there are new attempts to change the character of the Press Syndicate by expanding its membership to accommodate radio and television employees". He demanded that the Press Syndicate law be modified to close any loopholes which may allow such "deviations".
