ARCHIVES: Egypt
More than 500 journalists used online social media to proclaim their opposition to a joint statement by the editors of 17 state and privately-owned media in support of the anti-terrorism policies of a government that exploits security threats to persecute journalists with Al-Jazeera and other independent media. The joint statement by the editors was posted on the newspaper Al-Wafd’s website on October 26, two days after more 30 soldiers were killed in two militant attacks in North Sinai – the... MORE
Reporters Without Borders has condemned freelance news photographer Mahmoud Abu Zied ’s arbitrary detention without trial or charge for the past 14 months. His detention was extended for another 45 days on October 2. Known by the pseudonym of “Shawkan,” 27-year-old Zied was arrested in Cairo’s Al-Tayaran Street on August 14, 2013 while providing the Demotix and Corbix agencies with coverage of the government’s use of force to clear former President Mohamed Morsi’s supporters from Rabaa Al-... MORE
The Committee to Protect Journalists has welcomed the release on bail of two journalists in Egypt and calls on authorities to free the 11 other journalists still behind bars. The move comes days before Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is set to address the United Nations General Assembly in New York, according to news reports. "We are relieved that these two journalists are free. Egyptian authorities must now continue along this path and release all journalists behind bars and reform the... MORE
After more than ten months in jail without charges, Abdullah al-Shami was released from Cairo’s Scorpion prison on Tuesday 17 June. The Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent was arrested by security forces in August 2013 while covering the violent dispersal of a pro-Morsi sit-in that left hundreds of protesters dead. Outside the police station where he was finally released, Al-Shami thanked a jubilant crowd and called for the release of journalists who remain behind bars. “This is only the beginning... MORE
Several journalists have been attacked and briefly detained in Egypt since Thursday while covering deadly clashes between supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and security forces, according to news reports. At least seven have been killed in the clashes that began on Thursday when supporters of the ousted President Mohamed Morsi called for a commemoration of the first anniversary of the security forces' brutal dispersal of Muslim Brotherhood supporters from Rabaa Al-Adawiya square. The raid... MORE
Members of the International Press Institute (IPI)’s Executive Board Thursday in an open letter to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi expressed outrage at the lengthy sentences handed out this week to three Al Jazeera journalists behind bars in Egypt as well as sentences pronounced against six other journalists in absentia. Calling the sentences “unjustifiable”, the IPI Executive Board said that prosecutors failed to provide relevant evidence in court to support accusations that... MORE
A Suez court sentenced a journalist to three years in prison on Tuesday on charges of inciting and committing violence during protests in April, according to news reports. The move follows harsh prison sentences given to three Al-Jazeera journalists on Monday. Abdel Rahman Shaheen , a correspondent for Freedom and Justice News Gate , a news website affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, was arrested on April 9 in Suez City, reports said. The Muslim Brotherhood has been declared a terrorist... MORE
The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the World Editors Forum today strongly condemned the guilty verdicts against three Al Jazeera journalists accused of spreading false news and of aiding a banned terrorist organisation. The organisations that together represent over 18,000 titles and 15,000 online news sites worldwide, called on recently elected Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to take “all necessary steps to immediately revoke the sentences.”... MORE
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has joined the world community to condemn today’s verdict by a Cairo court in the case involving journalists from Al Jazeera English and has called on Egyptian authorities to urgently intervene to free the three journalists who have been detained for simply doing their jobs. Nairobi-based Al Jazeera English reporter, Australian Peter Greste , Al Jazeera English Cairo bureau chief, Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy , and Al Jazeera producer, Baher... MORE
A Cairo court sentenced three Al Jazeera English staff members to multi-year prison sentences on June 23, 2014, after a trial in which prosecutors failed to present any credible evidence of criminal wrongdoing. These convictions are the latest step in Egypt’s unrelenting assault on free expression, dramatically reversing gains made following the January 25, 2011 uprising. The verdict comes the day after US Secretary of State John Kerry visited Cairo to meet with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi... MORE
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