Egyptian security forces arrest economist Abdel Khaleq Farouk

Egyptian security forces have detained prominent economist and journalist Abdel Khaleq Farouk, the Egyptian Network for Human Rights said.

Farouk, 67, was arrested on Sunday evening and taken to an unknown location. According to a statement by his wife, the economist was denied his medication, and his family were not informed of the reasons for his arrest. His electronic devices and other personal belongings were also confiscated by the authorities.

Farouk was previously detained for four days in October 2018, pending investigation on charges of disseminating fake news in his book, Is Egypt Really a Poor Country?, which criticised the government’s economic policy and the military’s grip on power since 1952.

“The arrest of Dr Abdel Khaleq is a concrete and real application of the Egyptian authorities’ policy of silencing dissent, a practice they have widely engaged in for years,” Ahmed el-Attar, ENHR executive director, told MEE.

“He has a genuine national vision for economic reform, and thus his arrest sends a message that no voice is allowed to rise above that of the president and government, who do not tolerate criticism and view all who disagree with their views and actions as adversaries.” 

From 2018 onwards, when Egypt’s parliament passed sweeping legislation that criminalised the dissemination of “false news” for anyone with over 5,000 social media followers, security forces have jailed scores of bloggers and journalists on this charge, while over 500 websites have been blocked.

The law does not define what constitutes “false news”.

In July, security forces detained two journalists in under a week: Ashraf Omar, a cartoonist and satirist for the independent news outlet Al-Manassa and Khaled Mamdouh, a journalist for the news site Arabic Post.

In early September, Omar’s detention was extended by 15 days for a fourth time pending investigation on charges of membership of a “terrorist group” and “disseminating false news and misusing social media tools”.

According to Reporters without Borders, 18 journalists remain in Egypt’s prisons. The media watchdog ranks Egypt 170 out of 180 countries in its World Press Freedom Index.