Egyptian press freedom advocate faces life in prison
New York, August 12, 2016–Egyptian authorities should immediately drop all charges against award-winning human rights defender Gamal Eid, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Among the accusations prosecutors have leveled against the veteran free expression advocate is the false claim that CPJ paid him to defame Egypt internationally.
Egyptian photojournalist sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison
A Cairo criminal court on July 18, 2016, sentenced Egyptian freelance photojournalist Belal Darder Mohamed to 15 years in prison in absentia on charges of participating in an unlicensed protest and membership in a terrorist organization, according to press reports. The charges were in connection with his work documenting a December 2014 protest by students…
Leaders of Egypt’s Journalists’ Syndicate referred to trial
Washington, May 31, 2016 — Egyptian prosecutors should drop all charges against leaders of the country’s Journalists’ Syndicate and cease harassing them, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police detained syndicate chair Yehia Qallash and board members Khaled al-Balshy and Gamal Abdel Rahim for more than 12 hours for interrogation on Sunday, freeing them…
Journalist covering protests in Egypt jailed for two years
Washington, May 16, 2016–A criminal court in Cairo sentenced Ali Abdeen, a photographer for the news website El-Fagr, to two years in jail, according to his outlet. Abdeen, who was sentenced on May 14 alongside 50 others, was convicted of inciting illegal protests, obstructing traffic, and publishing false news, according to news reports and the…
Egyptian court recommends death penalty for three journalists
Washington, May 11, 2016 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today strongly condemned an Egyptian court’s recommendation to sentence three journalists to death. They were convicted of helping to smuggle secret documents to Qatari intelligence officers and the Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera. The journalists include two Al-Jazeera employees.
Egyptian government clash with Journalists Syndicate marks turning point in censorship fight
A standoff this week between Egyptian authorities and the country’s influential Journalists Syndicate could mark a turning point in the fight for media control that has raged since before President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi took office.
Egypt police raid Journalists’ Syndicate, arrest two journalists
New York, May 2, 2016–Egyptian authorities should immediately release Amr Badr, Mahmoud al-Sakka, and all journalists jailed for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police on Sunday raided the Journalists’ Syndicate in Cairo, where the two were staging a sit-in protest, and arrested them, according to their employer and news reports. Today…
The Struggle for Candid Interviews
Inside a four-room apartment in Antakya, Turkey, a town on the border with Syria, more than a dozen men sat on mattresses on the floor. It was just past 10 p.m. and the soldiers, all men in the Free Syrian Army, the rebel opposition group in Syria, were busy coordinating their next trip into the…
Scores of journalists harassed, detained amid Egypt protests
New York, April 25, 2016–Egyptian authorities should immediately cease detaining and harassing journalists, and allow them to do their jobs, including allowing them to cover street protests, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.