President of the constituent assembly to draft Egypt’s new constitution, Hossam al-Ghariani, described the proposed texts suggesting the closing down of newspapers as "repressive” on Tuesday.

“It is not right to punish whole news organizations including all their journalists and staff because some journalists committed mistakes”, said Ghariani as reported by the Middle East News Agency.

He insisted that the punishment should not include more than those who committed the mistakes.

The assembly’s Freedoms and Rights Committee had suggested provisions to govern the press and allow the closing down of newspapers in light of a court ruling.

Some journalists criticized this decision, saying it was the first of its kind in any constitution, although temporarily suspending newspapers has been allowed before.

Ghariani said that the assembly intends to discuss the chapter on freedoms again in its following session next week.