The Committee for Justice (CFJ) has condemned the management of Egypt’s DMC channel for the arbitrary dismissal of journalist Aya El-Gayar on May 18, 2025, without any legal justification or prior notice.
El-Gayar stated that she began working with DMC in 2017 as a correspondent, later signing an official contract and receiving a regular monthly salary via bank visa card.
She pointed out that she was invited by the channel’s HR department to attend a meeting on May 18, 2025, which was attended by representatives from the United Company and DMC channel. During the meeting, she was informed that she was no longer employed due to “high expenses” and insufficient viewership of the program she worked on (“Masaa DMC”), and was asked to sign a resignation—which she firmly refused.
El-Gayar added that she was surprised not to find her monthly salary deposited into her bank account on May 25, 2025. The HR department confirmed to her that she had been removed from the payroll since the last meeting, despite having received no written or justified notification of termination.
Although her role as a TV correspondent does not entitle her to membership in the Journalists’ Syndicate, she attempted to contact the syndicate and its board member Abdel-Raouf Khalifa, who tried to mediate on her behalf—though his efforts yielded no results.
El-Gayar expressed her surprise at being dismissed at a time when new journalists and media personnel were being hired by the channel, while current employees were receiving annual salary increases, with no clear explanation provided for her termination.
For its part, the CFJ affirms that what happened to El-Gayar constitutes a blatant violation of the professional and financial rights of female media workers. The committee emphasizes that such arbitrary dismissals are part of a growing pattern targeting female journalists through opaque administrative procedures that ignore laws regulating media work. The CFJ calls for an investigation into the incident, accountability for those responsible, and an immediate halt to unlawful dismissals of female media workers.