Egypt / Middle East & North Africa

  
In this Nov. 24, 2017 photo, Lina Attalah, editor-in-chief of Mada Masr, a prominent investigative media outlet in Egypt, participates in a panel discussion at cultural center in Cairo, Egypt. Mada Masr said editor Lina Attalah was arrested Sunday, May 17, 2020, outside Cairo's Tora prison complex. She was there to interview the mother of a prominent jailed activist, Alaa Abdelfattah. It's the latest arrest amid a wider crackdown on dissent. (AP/Roger Anis)

Egyptian police arrest Mada Masr editor Lina Attalah outside of Tora prison

New York, May 17, 2020— Egyptian authorities must immediately release Mada Masr editor-in-chief Lina Attalah, who was arrested outside the prison where her colleague Alaa Abdelfattah is on hunger strike protesting his detention, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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A police officer is seen in Cairo, Egypt, on March 25, 2020. Authorities recently detained journalist Haisam Mahgoub on false news and terrorism allegations. (Reuters/Mohamed Abd El Ghany)

Egypt detains journalist Haisam Mahgoub on false news, terrorism allegations

New York, May 14, 2019 — Egyptian authorities should immediately release journalist Haisam Hasan Mahgoub and let him report freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Security forces are seen in Cairo, Egypt, on March 29, 2020. Authorities recently blocked the Darb news website throughout Egypt. (AP/Nariman El-Mofty)

Egypt blocks Darb news website

On April 9, 2020, Egyptian authorities blocked Darb, a news website owned by the opposition Socialist Popular Movement Party, according to a report by the website and news reports.

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CPJ, 80 media and rights groups urge African heads of state to release jailed journalists

CPJ and 80 media, press freedom, and human rights organizations write to African heads of state to call on their respective governments to release all jailed journalists amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

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A police officer is seen at Cairo International Airport in Cairo, Egypt, on March 19, 2020. Egypt recently expelled Guardian reporter Ruth Michaelson over her reporting on the COVID-19 outbreak. (Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh)

Egypt expels Guardian reporter Ruth Michaelson over COVID-19 coverage

New York, March 26, 2020 — In response to Egypt’s expulsion of Ruth Michaelson, a reporter for The Guardian, the Committee to Protect Journalists released the following statement:

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A police vehicle is seen in Cairo, Egypt, on September 21, 2019. Police recently raided the Cairo offices of the Turkish Anadolu News Agency and arrested four people. (Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh)

Police raid Cairo offices of Turkish Anadolu News Agency, arrest at least 4

Washington, D.C., January 15, 2020 — Egyptian authorities yesterday arrested at least four people at the Anadolu News Agency office in Cairo on allegations of spreading false news and operating without a license, according to a report by the agency and other news reports.

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A June 5, 2019, photo shows a "media interview area" for reporters set up near the Idkah mosque on the morning of Eid al-Fitr, when Muslims around the world celebrate the end of Ramadan, in Kashgar, in China's northwestern Xinjiang region. China was the world’s leading jailer of journalists in 2019, with at least 48 in prison. (AFP/Greg Baker)

China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt are world’s worst jailers of journalists

For the fourth consecutive year, at least 250 journalists are imprisoned globally as authoritarians like Xi Jinping, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Mohammed bin Salman, and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi show no signs of letting up on the critical media. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

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Police officers are seen in Alexandria, Egypt, on November 20, 2019. Police recently arrested journalists Solafa Sallam, Hossam El-Sayyad, and Mohamed Salah in Giza. (AFP/Mohamed El-Shahed)

Three more journalists arrested by Egyptian security forces

New York, November 27, 2019 — Egyptian authorities should immediately release journalists Solafa Sallam, Hossam El-Sayyad, and Mohamed Salah, drop any charges against them, and stop imprisoning and harassing the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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A view of Giza Pyramids, taken from Cairo Tower on October 23, 2019. Security officers raided the Cairo offices of Mada Masr on November 24 and detained three staff. (AFP/Mohamed el-Shahed)

Egypt raids critical news outlet, detains staff

November 24, 2019—The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemned today’s raid on the office of independent Egyptian news website Mada Masr by Egyptian authorities, which included the arrests of three staffers. CPJ called on the government of Egypt to end its campaign of intimidation against the outlet and to release all Mada staff.

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The Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, second right, known as Shawkan, poses for a selfie at his home in Cairo on March 4, 2019. As part of the restrictive terms of his release from prison, the journalist has to spend each night at a police station. (AFP/Khaled Desouki)

Restrictive terms of Shawkan’s release from Egyptian jail highlighted to UN

On October 10, Mahmoud Abu Zeid turned 33. It was the Egyptian photojournalist’s first birthday out of prison since his August 2013 arrest. But in spite of his celebrated freedom in March, the police monitoring conditions of his probation have, in effect, rendered his release obsolete.

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