Egypt arrests senior journalist over Al Jazeera interview
Egyptian security forces have arrested a senior journalist after he participated in a TV interview with the Qatari channel Al Jazeera, his family said on Monday.
Mohamed Monir, 65, is a former chief editor of Al-Diyar newspaper and deputy editor of Youm7 newspaper. He is also a board member of the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate.
According to a Facebook post by his daughter, Monir was arrested at 3am on Sunday from his home in the Giza governorate, and security forces took him to an undisclosed location.
Monir later appeared at the State Security Prosecution in Cairo, which ordered his pre-trial detention for 15 days on charges of “aiding a terrorist group, publishing false news and misusing social media,” according to human rights lawyer Khaled Ali.
He was added to case no. 535/2020.
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According to his family, Monir’s detention appears to be related to his appearance in a TV interview with Al Jazeera, where he spoke about a recent dispute between the Coptic Church and Rose al-Youssef magazine over one of its recent covers.
“It was merely an expression of opinion, and he did not say anything that could be deemed offensive to the nation or national unity,” his family said in a statement published by his daughter.
Mahmoud Kamel, a journalist and Monir's colleague at the syndicate, said that evidence used by the prosecution to support the accusations included Facebook posts.
He added that Monir suffers from a number of chronic illnesses, suggesting his imprisonment might put his life at risk due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A day before his arrest, Monir posted a CCTV video of security forces raiding his apartment twice while he was away. He demanded the prosecutor general to investigate the incident, which he considered unlawful.
Monir’s arrest brings the total number of detained journalists who are members of the syndicate to 16, according to board member of the syndicate Mohamed Saad Abd Elhafiz, who also said there is a "similar number" of unregistered journalists also in custody.
Those detained in the past month include Awni Nafee, a sports journalist who was arrested from a quarantine facility where he was staying after his arrival from Saudi Arabia. Nafee had “mildly” criticised the government’s treatment of Egyptian returnees before his detention, Abd Elhafiz said. He has also been accused of the same charges as Monir.
Others who were swept up in recent raids include Mostafa Saqr and Sameh Hanein, who also face similar charges.
According to Reporters without Borders, Egypt is one of the worst jailers of journalists globally, ranking 166 in the 2020 Press Freedom Index.
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