The South Cairo Prosecution began investigating a complaint submitted by Wafd Party President Mahmoud Abaza, in which the latter accused independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm of slander and libel.
Abaza filed the complaint against both the Arabic newspaper and its chief editor, Magdi el-Gallad. He also filed a complaint against Ammar Ali Hassan, head of research at the state-run Middle East News Agency, who he also accused of slander and libel.
In his complaint, Abaza alleged that Al-Masry Al-Youm had printed false information about his party’s decision to strike a "secret deal" with the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) to cease his party’s support for Mohamed ElBaradei–a potential candidate in next years presidential elections–in return for the Wafd getting 23 seats in upcoming parliamentary elections.
Prosecutors are expected to summon El-Gallad and Hassan next Sunday to hear testimony.
Al-Masry Al-Youm printed Abaza’s statements in which he denied the allegation a day after it printed its initial article about the alleged deal. It also printed a statement by NDP Secretary-General Safwat el-Sherif denying the existence of any such agreement.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
