A Cairo misdemeanor court adjourned Saturday the trial of Egypt's Press Syndicate chairman Yehia Kalash and two other board members to 2 July on charges of harbouring fugitives inside the syndicate's headquarters.

The trio were absent from the trial, but represented by lawyers.

In the next session, two State Security policemen are scheduled to testify, as well as the syndicate’s security staff and syndicate member Hatem Zakaria.

Kalash, union secretary general Gamal Abdel-Reheem and undersecretary Khaled El-Balshy were referred to court in June for harbouring journalists Mahmoud El-Sakka and Amr Badr who were staging a sit-in in the syndicate to protest warrants issued for their arrest.

El-Sakka and Badr, who were arrested inside the syndicate, were among many ordered arrested ahead of the 25 April protests against the Egyptian-Saudi Red Sea island maritime border agreement.

Kalash, Abdel-Reheem and El-Balshy are also facing charges of spreading false news about the police raid on the syndicate's headquarters 1 May that resulted in the arrest of the two journalists.

A trial is yet to be set for this second charge.