An American freelance journalist detained over his coverage of recent riots said Friday last he had been released, while authorities announced at least nine Egyptian journalists were being held, according to an Associated Press (AP) report.
James Buck and his Egyptian translator were among several taken into custody in Mahalla el-Kobra, a northern industrial city where protests over high prices and low wages turned violent earlier last week. Nine other Egyptian photojournalists and cameramen, including one working for the Reuters news agency, also have been detained by police in Mahalla.
Some other details:
Rising prices have struck hard in Egypt, a U.S. ally where 20 percent of the population lives below the poverty line of around $2 a day. Mahalla, home to the Middle East's largest textile factory, has seen a wave of strikes for more than a year.
Earlier this week, protesters tore down a billboard of President Hosni Mubarak and fought with police in clashes that left two people dead in the worst unrest since Egypt's 1977 riots over increased bread prices.
Buck said he and his Egyptian translator were detained there Thursday. Speaking to The Associated Press by telephone Friday from inside the Mahalla police station, Buck said he was told he was free to go but that his translator, Mohammed Saleh Ahmed, was still being held.
"I started a hunger strike and I will not leave without my translator," said Buck, a graduate student at the University of California-Berkeley's School of Journalism.
He said police detained him as he was taking photos of families who were holding a hunger strike to protest the arrest of their relatives. Buck said he was interrogated for about 45 minutes but was not harmed. He said his camera's memory card had been confiscated.
Meanwhile, Reuters photographer Nasser Nouri and independent Egyptian weekly paper El-Fagr's Ahmed Hamad were among those detained Friday, according to a security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
