Members of the Kefaya movement, families of the 25 January revolution martyrs and journalists protested Monday at the Al-Ahram building against the appointment of Abdel Nasser Salama as chief editor of the newspaper.
The protesters said Salama is a remnant of the Hosni Mubarak regime who spoke ill of the revolution and revolutionaries several times. They said they were demonstrating to defend the independence of the press against attempts by the Muslim Brotherhood to control it.
Demonstrators raised banners that read “Down with Abdel Nasser Salama” and “Together to purge state-owned newspapers.”
Salama accused protesters of being “paid” to protest.
The Shura Council announced the new editors-in-chief of state newspapers Wednesday, wrapping up a controversial selection process that began more than a month ago.
The editors were nominated by the Shura Council General Committee and approved by vote during a general session of the council, which is the upper house of Parliament.
Salama, who will now head the country’s flagship paper, angered Copts in 2010 when he wrote a column criticizing Pope Shenouda III. In his weekly column, Salama held Shenouda accountable for inciting sectarian hatred between Muslims and Christians for the last four decades.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
