An Egypt appeals court on Saturday handed the former head of the journalists’ union and two members a suspended one-year jail sentence for “harboring fugitives”, a judicial source said.

Yahiya Kallash, Gamal Abd el-Rahim and Khaled Elbalshy were sentenced to two years in prison in November for sheltering two journalists wanted over protests against the transfer of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. But they were released on bail and filed an appeal.

Their arrest in May last year followed a police raid on the union building to detain two reporters from an opposition website who had been accused of incitement to protest in violation of the law.

Kallash had denounced the police raid on union headquarters to arrest reporters Amr Badr and Mahmud al-Sakka, saying the government was “escalating the war against journalism and journalists”.

Source: AFP