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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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 “unjustifiableâ€, the IPI Executive Board...
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...
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...
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...
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...
