CAIRO, Apr 6 (Aswat Masriya) - Egypt's interior ministry withdrew on Wednesday a claim filed against the head of the press syndicate's freedoms committee Khaled al-Balshy earlier this week, the syndicate's undersecretary Khaled Meery said. 

An arrest order was issued by prosecutors against Balshy, who is also the editor of al-Bedaiah newspaper, over accusations of inciting protests and disturbing public peace through social media networks.

The interior ministry's move against Balshy had drawn wide criticism from human rights defenders in Egypt, and the press syndicate gave the interior ministry an ultimatum on Tuesday demanding the withdrawal of the claim filed against the leading press freedom defender.

The press syndicate's Secretary General Gamal Abdel Raheem told Aswat Masriya on Tuesday that "escalation measures" would be considered in the event that the ministry failed to withdraw the claim.

Balshy has been actively involved in several initiatives that took place at the syndicate in solidarity with detained journalists. He also helped in shedding light on the violations against journalists.