Community condemns Cairo over persevering with incarceration of its journalist with out cost for practically a yr amid the deterioration of his well being.
Al Jazeera denounced Egyptian authorities’ choice to resume the detention of its journalist Rabie el-Sheikh by 45 days after holding him with out trial or cost for a yr, the Qatar-based media community stated.
El-Sheikh was initially detained on August 1, 2021 on the Cairo Worldwide Airport as he arrived to hitch his spouse and kids for a household vacation.
The community stated in a press release on Monday that “steady extension of his detention all year long in solitary confinement on the infamous Tora Jail has severely impacted and resulted in deterioration of his bodily and psychological well being”.
“Al Jazeera views the detention of the journalist as an assault on press freedom and holds Egyptian authorities accountable for the security and safety of el-Sheikh and all different journalists detained and imprisoned for merely finishing up their duties as journalists.”
‘Spreading false info’
Al Jazeera stated it demanded the discharge of el-Sheikh and his three colleagues – Hisham Abdel Aziz, Bahauddin Ibrahim, and Ahmed al-Najdi – who’re additionally incarcerated with out cost.
“The community calls on all worldwide press freedom and human rights organisations to sentence their arbitrary arrest and demand their rapid launch,” the assertion stated.
The 4 journalists have been detained since August 2021, August 2020, February 2020, and June 2019, respectively, on prices of “membership of a banned group” and “spreading false info”.
In a press release in June, rights group Reporters With out Borders stated “the actual crime” of the 4 journalists was working for Al Jazeera Media Community.
A army coup led by now-President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi deposed Egypt’s first democratically elected president, the late Mohamed Morsi, a candidate backed by the Muslim Brotherhood group, in 2013.
El-Sisi, who outlawed the Brotherhood in late 2013 and has overseen a wide-ranging crackdown, jailed 1000’s of its supporters.
Egypt has repeatedly arrested and detained Al Jazeera workers because the coup. Mahmoud Hussein, a producer with Al Jazeera Arabic, spent greater than 4 years in detention with out formal cost or trial earlier than being launched in February 2021.
Egypt’s inside ministry accused Hussein of “disseminating false information and receiving financial funds from international authorities so as to defame the state’s fame”. Hussein and Al Jazeera constantly denied the allegations.
Egyptian authorities prolonged Hussein’s detention greater than a dozen instances, far surpassing the nation’s most interval for pre-trial detention in violation of each Egyptian and worldwide regulation.
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