Journalists at Al-Bawaba News accused management of trying Monday to break up their 50-day sit-in at the newspaper’s headquarters in Dokki.
One of four journalists inside the headquarters said management cut electricity, internet, and water and disabled surveillance cameras before bringing in administrative security staff and bodyguards to disperse the sit-in by force.
The journalist, who asked not to be named, said they and three colleagues locked the newsroom door and placed chairs behind it to prevent it from being forced open. They said security later stood on the building’s stairways to block other sit-in participants or supporters from entering.
Mahmoud Kamel, a member of the Journalists Syndicate’s board, wrote on Facebook that board chairman Abdelrahim Ali and Dalia Abdelrahim, his daughter and the editor-in-chief, were using bodyguards to disperse the sit-in by force. He added that four journalists were being held inside the building and that “their lives were in danger,” according to the post.
Samir Othman, another journalist at the newspaper, described the incident in a livestream from outside the headquarters, saying Dokki police station initially refused to allow his colleagues to file a complaint about the incident before later permitting it.
Othman said security closed the building’s main door and refused to let them enter “after it failed to break up the sit-in,” adding they would continue their protest until the minimum wage is applied.
Abdelrahim Ali denies allegations, announces liquidation
Abdelrahim Ali denied there had been any attempt to disperse the sit-in by force in a Facebook post he attributed to the “editorial board,” rejecting what he described as “false claims” made by some syndicate board members.
Ali said surveillance footage showed the journalists themselves locked the headquarters from the inside as soon as they learned of a decision to liquidate the company that publishes the newspaper. He said the sit-in participants had not been harassed and that no one “mistreated” them.
In an earlier post, Ali said an extraordinary general assembly of the Arab Center for Journalism, which publishes Al-Bawaba News, unanimously approved dissolving the company and placing it under liquidation due to accumulated losses. He said losses reached 24 million Egyptian pounds by the end of last December, a figure 24 times greater than the issued capital.
The developments came as nine of the newspaper’s journalists, along with syndicate board members Mahmoud Kamel and Eman Ouf, appeared before the Central Cairo Prosecution after a complaint filed by Ali and his daughter accusing them of “protesting without a permit.” Prosecutors later released them pending investigation.
Kamel said the syndicate’s board would hold an emergency meeting to discuss the latest developments in the crisis following the attempted dispersal and the liquidation announcement.
Minimum wage demand and workplace conditions
Journalists at Al-Bawaba News began an open-ended sit-in on Nov. 17, 2025, demanding application of the minimum wage. They said management rejected the demand, citing financial inability, and on Dec. 1 printed what it described as its “last issue” after announcing liquidation and closure.
At the end of last December, the syndicate’s board unanimously approved referring Abdelrahim Ali and his daughter to a syndicate investigation over their responsibility for dismissing journalists and refusing to apply the minimum wage.
