CAIRO (Sputnik) — In May, police officers searched the office of the union in order to detain two opposition reporters who had sheltered in the building in order to avoid arrest for demonstrations against Red Sea island transfers to Saudi Arabia.
According to The BBC broadcaster, the union's head Yehia Qallash, as well as the organization's board members Gamal Abdel Rahim and Khaled Balshy were sentenced for "harbouring fugitives."
The media outlet added that the court had also imposed a fine of 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($620 at the current exchange rate) on the convicts.
In April, Cairo announced a decision to transfer the islands of Tiran and Sanafir at the southern entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba to Riyadh. The move had sparked protests across the country that resulted in numerous detentions of the country's opposition members.
