Journalist detained after surviving army shooting

Ahram Online

Egyptian journalist slapped with 4-day detention after surviving army shooting

Egyptian Journalist who was injured after army forces opened fired on him and killed his colleague is accused of possessing unlicensed weapons

Wednesday 21 Aug 2013

Damanhour prosecution ordered late Tuesday the detention of Al-Gomhoreya journalist Hamed El-Barbary, who had survived an army shooting a day earlier, for four day pending investigation after being charged with possessing weapons.

Tamer Abdel-Raouf, Bureau chief of Al-Ahram Newspaper in Beheira, was shot dead on Monday evening while driving his car a few hours after the beginning of the state-imposed curfew at 7pm. El-Barbary, who was in the same car, was injured.

After he was hospitalized, El-Barbary testified that army forces at a checkpoint located south of Damanhour, northern Beheira Governorate, fired at the car after ordering the driver, Abdel-Raouf, not to pass through. He said Abdel-Raouf complied by forces shot him anyway.

Earlier, Egyptian Armed Forces Spokesman Colonel Ahmed Ali said the forces did not intend to kill them.
In his statement, Ali said that the passengers “breached the curfew, drove quickly towards the security checkpoint and did not comply with calls to stop, or warning shots fired in the air.”

He added that the car did not stop for the forces to know the identity of its passengers.

On 14 August, Egypt’s interim Cabinet re-introduced a state-of-emergency, which includes a daily curfew starting at 7pm until 6am in 14 governorates. This came amid recurrent clashes across the nation between security forces and supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi.

Journalists and media personnel are officially exempt from the curfew.