Egypt: 3 journalist arrested, tortured over terrorism charges

Egypt – Three journalists remain detained on charges of spreading false information and inciting terrorism online after conducting interviews on the streets with members of the public in central Cairo

Their lawyer, Fatma Serag, told the media  the three had been beaten and electrocuted while in detention and accused of belonging to an illegal organisation and spreading false news. They are still in custody for 15 days pending further investigation.

The three journalists were interrogated by prosecutors and officers from Egypt’s domestic intelligence agency on the night of September 27 and charged with belonging to a banned organisation, inciting violence and terrorism online and publishing false news the next morning, reports added. It is worth mentioning that Hassan is a reporter working for Al Nabaa news site. Al-Bishbishi is a photographer and cameraman for the news website Baladi while Mokhtar is a freelance photographer who works with the newspaper el-Shaab el-Jadeed.

IFJ President, Philippe Leruth, said, Egyptian authorities must stop breaking the law by arresting journalists for just doing their work. Their violations of the constitutional guarantees for individual liberties and the right to a due legal process have become intolerable and must stop and our colleagues must be freed immediately.

Back in May, police raided the EJS headquarters in Cairo and arrested reporters Omar Badr and Mahmoud al Saqa for “inciting protests” against the authorities. In addition, EJS President Yahya Qallash, Vice President Khalid el Balshi and General Secretary Gamal Abdulrahim were questioned for 14 hours about allegations of harbouring fugitives in the union´s offices, which the IFJ strongly condemned at the time.

The Federation, representing 600,000 journalists worldwide, asks the authorities to drop all charges against the three journalists and reaffirms its international solidarity with Egyptian reporters who are standing up for press freedom and union rights in the country.