Egyptian journalist starts hunger strike

Egyptian journalist Mohamed Helal, from the Egyptian Nation Journal who is now imprisoned with the former editor-in-chief of the journal, Magdy Ahmed Hussein, serving a one-year sentence of imprisonment for a case involving Hassan El- Alfi, Egypt's former minister of interior, has gone on a hunger strike in the hospital of Torra prison.

The head of the Labor Party and the head of the board directors Ibrahim Shoukri opposed the principle of the hunger strike.

Separately, The Egyptian journalists union began talks aimed at achieving a reconciliation between journalist Gamal Fahmy, who was given a six-month prison sentence and writer Sarot Abaza who brought suit against the journalist.

Mohamed Abdel Kods, a member of the union's council said that the head of journalists, Makram Mohamed Ahmed El-Feki, met with Abaza and discussed with him reconciliation with Fahmy, who worked as a manager of Al-Dostour journal, and who did not surrender to the police until the police were directed to his house to execute the sentence.