Egypt

Military police reportedly detained Abdul Kareem Suleiman Amer, the blogger better known as Kareem Amer, together with the filmmaker Samir Eshra on Cairo’s Kasr El-Nil bridge February 6 evening as they were leaving Tahrir Square. Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) called for their immediate release. “Kareem Amer owes his prominence to his virulent criticism of the...

As journalists face ongoing attacks and detentions in Cairo, they are increasingly concerned that state broadcasts are creating an atmosphere that is encouraging violence against the media, the Committee to Protect Journalists has said. State television and radio, along with pro-Mubarak private stations, are giving frequent airtime to presenters and guests who claim that foreigners, including...

Members and supporters of the international press freedom NGO Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) demonstrated outside the Egyptian embassy in Paris at midday today to express their outrage at the systematic use of violence against journalists in Egypt since February 2. Chanting “The news is being killed” and “Egypt, stop violence against journalists,” the RSF activists brandished posters showing...

The International Federation of Journalists today mourned the loss of the first journalist to die in the social unrest in Egypt. Journalist Ahmed Mohammed Mahmoud died in hospital in Cairo from injuries suffered after he was shot in the eye by a sniper on Monday last week. The journalist, aged 39, worked for the A’wada newspaper, a part of the Al Ahram media group. His death comes after a week of...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Friday called on the Egyptian regime to end all targeting of journalists on the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities. "The hostage taking, beatings, and intimidation have deeply shocked the world of journalism and must be stopped immediately" said Aidan white, IFJ General Secretary. "We hold the Egyptian authorities responsible. They must act...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its regional group, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), have appealed to the European Heads of State meeting in Brussels to vigorously protest to the Egyptian authorities over the systematic violence against media staff and targeting of journalists covering the current protests and civil unrest in Egypt. The last 48 hours has been a...

Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has posted a provisional tally of cases of abuses against journalists and media since the start of the violence on February 2, above all in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. The tally is far from final or definitive. Additional cases keep on being reported and it is very difficult to compile a comprehensive inventory of the situation. It will be...

There have been shocking attacks on BBC, Al Jazeera, CNN, Al-Arabiya and ABC News journalists by Hosni Mubarak supporters who were reportedly accompanied by plainclothes police. The attacks took place during clashes in central Cairo’s Tahrir Square between supporters of the president and demonstrators calling for his resignation. “The use of violence against media personnel is especially shocking...

Belgian journalist Serge Dumont was arrested Wednesday in Cairo, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The Middle East correspondent of three newspapers – Belgium’s Le Soir, Switzerland’s Le Temps and France’s La Voix du Nord – was arrested and beaten by men in plainclothes at midday while in the central neighbourhood of Choubra. He was then taken to a...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its European group, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) have called for the immediate release of Belgian journalist Maurice Sarfatti, also known as Serge Dumont, who was arrested in Cairo by security forces and is being held at an unidentified military facility. Sarfatti, a reporter for a number of European newspapers, including the...