Enforced disappearance and prisoners’ hunger strikes are back

Journalists Hisham Jaafar and Khaled Sahloob face slow death

8 abuses in prisons, 5 physical abuses and 14 preventions of coverage

London – September 13, 2016

Despite that August has witnessed less violations than previous months with 63 cases, it is the most painful in two ways: the first is the suffering of journalist Khaled Sahloob for more than 4 months. Moreover, he has been tortured by being hit on his head or being tied with ropes to force him abandon his hunger strike. Sahloob refused that, so his health deteriorated severely, so that he became unable to walk, and moves on a wheelchair. This worried his family a lot, so it sent several complaints to many competent bodies, but in vain till now.

The other case in this context was the one of journalist Hisham Jaafar, who was forced to leave the hospital and transferred to prison despite his  treatment was not completed, which made his family accuses the prison administration that they want to take him out of prison either dead or blind. Moreover, he appeared before a judge, holding a “catheter” in his hands in a very impressive sight, however, the judge ordered his continued detention.

Enforced disappearance is the second manifestation of Augus, which is still going on, whether by adding new cases, as happened with photographer Omar Adel three days after his appearance Al-Amiriya police station, or the continued disappearance of Ahmed Al-Mansi, the trainee in Sout Al-Omma website, as well as Mahmoud Abdul-Latif, the trainee in ShababNews website, despite nearly two months of disappearance.

Despite the release of journalists Amr Badr and Yusuf Shaaban, August has witnessed jailing of two new journalists, Omar Adel Mohammed Al-Sajnidi, So, the number of imprisoned journalists continue currently to be 92 prisoners. Usual abuses continued, like of the violations in prisons either assault on jailed journalists or prevention medication or foods or mistreatment of relatives of the detainees during visiting them.

Imprisonment and enforced disappearance

This section has seen four cases, including the cases of two new imprisonments and two releases. As for imprisonments, they are photojournalist Mohammed Al-Sanjidi from his home in Damietta province, as well as journalist Omar Adel of zoomNews website who appeared in Al-Amiriya police station then in Al-Marj police station after several days of enforced disappearance. This is in addition to the continuation of forced disappearances of both Ahmed Al-Mansi who is a trainee in Sout Al-Omma newspaper, and Mahmoud Abdul-Latif, the trainee in ShababNews website who we have already referred to in July report.

In contrast, August has witnessed the release of journalist Amr Badr who is a member of the Egyptian Journalists’ Syndicate and editor of Yanair portal, who was arrested in the famous incident of security forces storming EJS headquarters. This is beside the release of journalist Yusuf Shaaban of Al-Bedaia newspaper after completing his sentence, which amounted to a year and a half in the case of the so-called storming Al-Raml police station. This makes the number of prisoners journalists continue as it is at 92 prisoners.

Abuses inside prisons

Ikshef was able to record eight cases of abuses inside prisons, most notably what happened with the journalists Khalid Sahloob and Hisham Jaafar. Photojournalist Sahloob is going through a hunger strike since April 17, 2016 in protest against the fabrication of charges against him and mistreatment him inside his cell. He is subjected to strong pressure and grotesque torture in order to force him to stop his hunger strike. His family notified Ikshef of their observations on the state of Sahloob during their visit to him on 31 August most notably moving in a wheelchair as a result of not being able to move on his feet, losing of about half the weight until his weight reached 50 kg only, and being beaten inside the prison which appeared in clear bruises and wounds in his forehead.

Another case is of journalist Hisham Jaafar, who was forced to leave the hospital and transferred to prison despite his treatment was not completed, which made his family accuses the prison administration that they want to take him out of prison either dead or blind. Moreover, he appeared before a judge, holding a “catheter” in his hands in a very impressive sight, however, the judge ordered his continued detention.

This section included the usual violations of mistreatment of colleagues in places of detention and prisons, prevention of medicines and food, mistreatment of families during visits and other violations that amounted to 8 cases. However, it is important to note a relative improvement in allowing visits in last days of the August after it remained a complicated matter for a long time before.

Trials and complaints

This section has witnessed 22 cases involving several institutions and individuals. The trial of a number of journalists Rassd network was postponed.  Also, several complaints were filed against a number of journalists of Sout Al-Omma newspaper, on top of who is editor Abdul-Halim Qandil, as well as the editor of Al-Dostor Said Wahba. Channel 3 anchorwoman Azza Al-Hinnawi, along with two others were referred to disciplinary court. This is in addition to complaints filed against media anchor Amr Adib and former top auditor Hisham Geneina, and other complaints.  Also, there were the renewal of the imprisonment of several journalists, including Hisham Jaafar, despite his illness, Ali Said and Mahmoud Al-Sakka.

Physical attacks

Physical attacks continued this month and were 5 cases. What is striking is that most of them were from individuals and not from bodies, most notably the attack Hani Abo Rida, elected as the next chairman of Egyptian Football Federation, against one of the journalists, this is as well as an incident of harassment of editor in chief at Rose Al-Youssef institution against Mona Yosri, this is in addition to inappropriate dealing with journalists during the football match of Ahli and Zamalek of Egypt Cup.

Prevention of coverage

Preventions of coverage amounted to 14 cases, where government agencies and on top of which the security agences remain at the forefront of impeding the work of journalists.  Other institutions which are supposed to defend freedom of the press join this violations, most notably the parliament, which its speaker issued a decision banning entry of photographers after a photographer take a photo of him which he disliked. Other institutions such as the courts, clubs and government departments participated in the prevention of coverage.

Layoffs and writing bans

August has witnessed new development concerning layoffs after hitting a record high last month with 140 cases, where Al-Nahar and Al-Osboo newspapers Deutsche Welle have joined institutions that fired journalists, while Al-Nahar has sent warnings of dismissal for 12 journalists, while Al-Osboo continued not paying the salaries of a large number of journalists.

In terms of prevention of writing, columnist Dr. Ammar Ali Hassan have complained of preventing his articles in newspapers on the instructions of the competent authorities, as well as journalist Mohammed Abu Shousha Al-Ahram Al-Taawoni newspaper, and preventing an article for him tackling the case of the outgoing minister of supply Khaled Hanafi on instructions of the editor of the newspaper.

Closure of programs and media outlets

This month has seen cases of cessation of work. The main body behind them is the Egyptian state television. One case because of increase in the weight of the TV hosts, and the other one because one female TV host was accused of insulting the president. In contrast, a court has rejected a lawsuit to stop Facebook and Twitter.

List of Detained Journalists in Egypt till 31 August 2016 (92 Journalists)

1. Omar Adel (Zoom News website)
2. Mohammed Al-Sanjnidi (Freelance journalist)
3. Magdi Ahmed Hussein (Editor of Al-Shaab Al-Jadeed)
4. Hani Salah Al-Din (Managing editor of Youm7)
5. Hisham Jaafar (MADA)
6. Ismail Al-Iskandrani (Freelance journalist)
7. Yusuf Shaaban (Albedaiah.com)
8. Islam Al-Beheiri (Youm7)
9. Ahmed Naji (Akhbar Al-Adab)
10. Ahmed Sebaie (Head of Al-Aqsa TV office in Egypt)
11. Hassan Al-Qabbani (Al-Karama newspaper)
12. Mohammed Saber Al-Batawi (Al-Akhbar)
13. Ibrahim Al-Dadrawi (Al-Qawmiya for distribution)
14. Mohsen Radi (Al-Dawa)
15. Said Abu Haj (Sinai Media Center)
16. Amr Al-Khafif (Former director of broadcast engineering in ERTU)
17. Imad Abu Zaid (Al-Ahram)
18. Mohammed Abossoul (Akhbar Al-Youm)
19. Abdo Desuqi (Ikhwanweb)
20. Mohammed Ibrahim Shukri (Al-Omma TV channel)
21. Walid Shalabi (Ikhwan Online)
22. Yusuf Talat (Al-Sabab TV channel)
23. Mahmoud Mostafa Saad (Alnahar newspaper)
24. Ammar Abdul Majid (Al-Hadath website)
25. Sabri Anwar (Elbadil newspaper)
26. Ahmed Bayoumi (Dardasha newspaper)
27. Samhi Mostafa (Rassd network)
28. Mohamed Salah (Journalist, Al-Shaab Al-Jadeed)
29. Ibrahim Suleiman (5^th TV channel – National TV)
30. Omar Abdul-Maksoud (Masralarabia.com)
31. Mahmoud Abu Zeid, (aka Shawkan) (Demotix photo agency)
32. Bakri Abdul-Aal (Al-Raya newspaper)
33. Mohammed Al-Saeed Al-Dashti (Al-Mashhad newspaper)
34. Abdul-Rahman Shahin (Freedom and justice newspaper – Aljazeera TV channel)
35. Mohammed Madani (Misr 25 TV channel)
36. Musaad Al-Barbari (Director Ahrar 25 TV channel)
37. Khaled Hamdi (Misr 25 TV channel)
38. Hassan Khudari (Misr 25 TV channel)
39. Khaled Abdul-Aziz (Misr 25 TV channel)
40. Jamal Al-Alem (Misr 25 TV channel)
41. Mosaab Hamed (Misr 25 TV channel)
42. Osama Ezzuddin (Misr 25 TV channel)
43. Mohammad Al-Adli (Amjad TV channel)
44. Abdullah Al-Fakharani (Rassd network)
45. Moataz Mostafa Shahin (Freedom and Justice newspaper)
46. Mohamed Salah Sowaidan (Freelance photographer)
47. Mahmoud Abdul-Nabi Awad (Rassd network)
48. Ibrahim Abdul-Nabi Awad (Rassd network)
49. Khalid Abdul-Rauf Sahlob (Rassd network)
50. Khaled Hamza (Managing editor of IkhwanWeb)
51. Sayed Musa (Amjad TV channel)
52. Karim Mostafa Al-Sayed (Al-Shabab TV channel)
53. Mohammed Ezzat (Ikhwan Online)
54. Abdullah Shousha (Amjad TV channel)
55. Ahmed Lashin (Misr 25 TV channel)
56. Ahmed Fouad Mohamed Al-Sayed (Karmoz website)
57. Shadi Abdul-Hamid (Freelance correspondent)
58. Suhaib Saad Al-Haddad (Freelance correspondent, Aljazeera)
59. Khalid Mohammed Abdul-Rahman (Freelance correspondent, Aljazeera)
60. Wael Al-Heddini (Freelance correspondent)
61. Mohammed Mamoun Abu Shousha (Ahrar 25 TV channel)
62. Ibrahim Talha (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
63. Mahmoud Jamal Ali Othman (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
64. Mohyi Qasem Mohammed Abdul-Jawwad (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
65. Mohammed Mostafa Abdul-Nasser Abdul-Qadir (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
66. Ahmed Muharram Abdul-Salam (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
67. Abdul-Rahman Abdul-Salam Yaqout (Freelance reporter)
68. Sameh Mohammed Ahmed Bakri (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
69. Abdullah Jamal Moftah (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
70. Ammar Samir Abdul-Ghani Ahmad (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
71. Ahmed Khamis Mahmoud Kheder (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
72. Belal Abdullah Ahmad (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
73. Abdul-Rahman Hassan Abdul-Hafiz (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
74. Ahmed Khamis Anwar Abdul-Qawi (Stringer for satellite TV channels
75. Osama Hashem Mohammed Hashem (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
76. Mohamed Hossamuddin Abdul-Halim Al-Kafrawi (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
77. Omar Mohamed Mabrouk Al-Sawi (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
78. Ahmed Ali Ahmed Al-Najjar (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
79. Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed Shehata (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
80. Islam Gomaa (Misr 25 TV channel)
81. Ahmed Hamouda Al-Sakhawi (Misr newspaper)
82. Ahmed Al-Mansi (Shabab News website)
83. Mahmoud Abdul-Latif (Shabab News website)
84. Ibrahim Samir (Freelance correspondent)
85. Islam Al-Banna (Freelance correspondent)
86. Islam Atef (Al-Omma website)
87. Ahmed Abu Khabeer (Al-Omma website)
88. Ahmed Maher Ali (Freelance correspondent)
89. Assem Abdul-Fattah (Al-Omma website)
90. Omar Khedr (Rassd network)
91. Omar Mabrouk (Freelance journalist)
92. Mahmoud Yahia (Al-Omma TV channel)