Three leading members of Egypt's journalist union protested that they had not committed any crime, after being sentenced to two years in prison on Saturday.
The Cairo Misdemeanour Court also ordered the defendants to pay a bail of 10,000 Egyptian pounds (640 dollars) each to stay out of jail pending appeal on charges of harbouring fugitive colleagues inside the union's premises.
Union chief Yahya Qallash, his deputy Khaled al-Balshy and Secretary General Gamal Abdel-Raheem were charged after a police raid on their headquarters in May led to the arrests of two opposition journalists wanted allegedly for inciting unauthorized street protests.
Speaking in the courtroom after the verdict, Qallash said that he and his colleagues were the aggrieved party "for having defended the syndicate when it came under attack and was stormed [by police]."
"We are prepared to pay an even higher price. We have committed no crime," Qallash said, in comments reported by independent newspaper al-Shorouk.
Amnesty International said that the trial, which started in June, was "a dangerous escalation of the Egyptian authorities' draconian clampdown on freedom of expression."
The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on the Egyptian authorities "to let the Journalists Syndicate and all members of the press do their jobs without fear of reprisal."
"The authorities are punishing Yehia Qallash, Khaled al-Balshy, and Gamal Abdel Rahim, who represent the most influential voice for press freedom in Egypt, for working to protect journalists from harassment, threats, and arrests," CPJ Middle East and North Africa programme coordinator Sherif Mansour said.
Dozens of journalists took to the steps in front of the Journalists Syndicate building to protest against the verdict, state-run newspaper al-Ahram reported online.
In recent years, the building has been a focal point for anti-government demonstrations in Egypt.
By Walid Zaky
