The draft law for regulating media affairs ignited widespread disagreements between MPs during its discussion by the Media Committee of the Egyptian parliament.
As MP Nashwa al-Deeb described the bill as "sensational", other MPs like Khaled Youssef objected to it. Youssef announced boycotting discussions due to the repeated re-voting that occured one of the articles suggested by the Supreme Council of Journalism in the bill.
The committee re-voted on the article under pressure from a journalist MP, said Youssef. The article is related to the number of "state representatives" in the Supreme Council of Journalism, he added.
According to Youssef, the committee voted on the article twice and in both times the majority voted for his and the Supreme Council of Journalism's suggestion.
After a while, committee MPs received phone calls from outside the committee and one of them suggested voting for the third time on the article. The committee then passed the Cabinet's suggested article and not the supreme council's.
Youssef submitted his resignation upon the incident before he backtracked and announced that he would boycott the voting.
MP Ossama Heikal, the chairman of the media committee, said the committee has concluded the bill on regulating media affairs and the bill would be put up for voting in a general assembly.
He added that imprisonment has been cancelled as a punishment for "publication crimes" in the law and, instead, a fine ranging from LE100,000 to LE500,000 has been stated.
MP Ahmed Tantawy told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the current bill is distorted by the Cabinet which aims to subject journalists to its power.
Journalist Salah Eissa, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Journalism, attacked the parliament over the bill, saying that a large part of the government does not believe in the freedom of press.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
