Press Syndicate head Yahia Qalash and board members Khaled Elbalshy and Gamal Abd El Rahim were arrested yesterday on charges of harboring fugitives. The order from the Prosecutor General came after 13 hours of questioning on Sunday, ostensibly to hear their side of the dispute, according to a statement from the syndicate. All three were released on bail Monday evening. The Prosecutor General ordered that all three syndicate officials stand trial this Saturday, adding charges of spreading false news. The syndicate condemned the arrests. The arrests stem from an incident earlier this month in which police raided the syndicate’s Downtown Cairo headquarters to arrest journalists Amr Badr and Mahmoud El Sakka. The move sparked a weeks-long public outcry and protests by the Press Syndicate, which issued a series of demands including the resignation of the Interior Minister.

The House Human Rights Committee may issue condemnation of the arrests today through its head Mohamed Anwar Al Sadat, according to statements made by a number of committee members on Monday. Amnesty International called the arrests “a dangerous escalation of the Egyptian authorities’ draconian clampdown on freedom of expression.”