Minister of Interior Mansour El-Eissawy sued former syndicate head and columnist Galal Aref for “insulting police” in his daily column in the Akhbar newspaper of 27 November. The minister has also called for the writer’s imprisonment.

Two weeks earlier, El-Eissawy also sued Akhbar journalist Ahmed Taha Al-Naqr as well as the paper’s chairman of the board for an article run on 27 November in which the former wrote that the current police force should be replaced by another which respects law and human rights.

In both complaints, El-Eissawy accused the writers of insulting the police and publishing lies aimed at undermining security and spread fear amongst the people. The interior minister demanded that the two journalists face the highest level of punishment, including imprisonment and a fine. He also demanded that the paper’s chairman be fined LE10,000 ($1,657).

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