The head of Egyptian Syndicate of Journalists and two of the union’s board members are to stand trial for harboring colleagues wanted by authorities and "spreading false news", a statement by the Cairo prosecution office said on 30 May.

"The arrest of key media figures at the Press Syndicate signals a dangerous escalation of the Egyptian authorities' draconian clampdown on freedom of expression," said Magdalena Mughrabi, Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International. The Cairo prosecution office said their trial would begin on 4 June.

The move against the three came less than a month after the head of the union, Yahya Qalash, called for the interior minister’s resignation and a presidential apology over an alleged police raid to snatch two journalists wanted for inciting protests who had taken refuge inside the union’s building in downtown Cairo. Both work for the opposition website Bawabet Yanayer.

Adapted from Daily Mail and Deutsche Welle