43 violations, most notably the demolition of a journalist’s house and the illegal ongoing pre-detention of journalists
London, issued November 7, 2017
October 2017 has witnessed the strangest and probably the first incident in the history of the Egyptian press, where a journalist was detained and his house in Ismailia province demolished. Journalist Sulaiman Al-Hakim was arrested as punishment for his participation in television interviews in Egyptian channels broadcast from Turkey, although the apparent argument was that he violated the building laws. Journalists were surprised and met this with deep disapproval and condemnation, forcing the authorities to release Al-Hakim with a fine for a case in which he was accused of resisting the authorities.
The other incident is that two journalists, Hisham Jaafar and Hassan Al-Qabbani, went on hunger strike in Al-Aqrab prison to protest their continued imprisonment after serving the two-year pre-detention term. According to Egyptian law, they must be released until they are summoned again.
October witnessed 43 violations, 4 releases and 8 judicial proceedings. The rate of violations increased compared to September by 5 violations, as well as the continued imprisonment of 94 prisoners, up by one prisoner from last month.
At the level of detention and enforced disappearance, October witnessed four cases of detention and enforced disappearance, where the police arrested journalist and writer Sulaiman Al-Hakim and demolished his house on the pretext of it is illegal, but it was a punishment for him for attacking Al-Sisi in a television program. Also, journalist Asmaa Zidan of Fikra newspaper was arrested for the pretext of insulting Al-Sisi on its own page on Facebook. Moreiver, journalist Aliaa Awad of Rassd News Network was detained and charged in the case known as the” Holwan Brigades”. The fourth case is of journalist Ahmed Al-Sakhawi who was imprisoned for 15 days after the emergence of forced disappearance that lasted about a month .
Three journalists were released in October, including Hani Salahuddin of Youm7 newspaper who was detained for two months, Magdi Ghoneim of Al-Hayat International, , and Mahmoud Mostafa of Al-Nahar newspaper who got a judicial decision to release him, but is still held in police custody till the time of writing this report.
On the level of prison violations, this section recorded two cases during October. The first is of journalist Hisham Jaafar, who is the permanently facing all kinds of violations, who was doesn’t have medical treatment, leading him to stage a hunger strike, especially since his period of pre-detention was over and must be released. The second violation faced journalist Sabri Anwar, whose request for treatment of urolithiasis was refused by the prison administration, in addition to preventing him of getting clothes in Gamasa prison.
October witnessed 25 cases of complaints and trials, most notably the continuous detention of several journalists, headed by Hisham Jaafar, Hassan Al-Qabbani, Badr Mohammed Badr, Hamdi Mokhtar, Mohammed Hassan, Usama Al-Beshbishi, Mahmoud Shawkan and others.
The trials also included the imprisonment of journalist Abeer Al-Safti of Al-Bedaiah.com as well as journalist Asmaa Zedan charged with insulting the president.
This is in addition to several other procedures, including a complaint against Sada Al-Balad’s TV host Ahmed Mousi which accuses him of publishing false news; and sentencing Ali Mohamed Al-Baz, editor of Al-Dostor newspaper to fine.
October witnessed 4 cases of prevention of coverage by the Azbekiya Misdemeanors Court, which prevented journalists from covering the trial of “homosexuality” twice in a row within 48 hours, as well as preventing journalists from attending the trial of political activist Ahmed Doma. Also, security at Doctors’ Syndicate prevented journalists from covering by-election.
In October, 4 cases of physical abuse were witnessed. The Petro Sport Stadium witnessed the security assault on journalists during the Zamalek and Somouha match. Also, the photographer Abdul-Hamid Nour of El-Fagr Newspaper was attacked. There were verbal and physical assaults on journalist Adam Hassan of Midan Al-Ganoub newspaper in Luxor by the deputy director of the central hospital of Esna. This is in addition to the detention of the journalist and photographer Ashraf Shaaban of Dar Al-Tahrir for hours at the police station of Al-Matareya hospital.
Also, October witnessed 7 cases of prevention of publication and blocking of programs. On top of that was TV host Ahmed Mousa, where a decision to stop his program on Sada Al-Balad satellite channel was issued after broadcasting a leaked video on the background of Al-Wahat incident. Also, Tv host Morouj Ibrahim of Extra News channel was also stopped on the backdrop of dealing sharply with her guest Dr. Asem Al-Desouki. This is in addition to preventing the appearance of lawyer Tariq Al-Awadi on a program of Dream satellite channel. General Authority for Investment refused to grant a license to establish the Al-Fath” channel that is linked to the Salafi trend in Egypt.
For its part, a court ruled to accept the claim of the grand imam of Al-Azhar to prevent the broadcasting of TV host Islam Al-Beheiri on Al-Qahera Wa-Al-Nas satellite channel and on other satellite channels. The court approved the suspension. This as well as the dismisal of artists and TV hosts Hisham Abdullah, Hisham Abdel-Hamid and Mohammed Shouman from the Actors’ Syndicate because of their work with Al-Sharq satellite channel and not renewing their subscription.
On the level of prevention of writing, October witnessed 4 cases, where the website of Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper rejected an article by the writer Ghada Al-Sherif, and delete another one that had been published on the website. The third case is referring TV host Abeer Al-Fakharani of the state Egyptian television to investigation for writing a tweet on her account on Facebook that was considered an insult to the general-turned-president Abdul-Fattah Al-Sisi. The fourth case is when Rosaelyoussef newspaper referred journalist Alaa Abdul-Moneim to the medical team as a justification for transferring him to administrative work and preventing him from writing because of his political position rejecting Al-Sisi’s regime.
As for the travel ban, one case was recorded in which the Egyptian authorities prevented Rehab Taha Mohamed, the editor of the Sudanese newspaper Al-Wefaq, from entering the country upon arrival at Cairo airport and decided to return him to Khartoum.
Updated list of detained journalists in Egypt till October 31, 2017:
. Ibrahim Al-Dadrawi (Al-Qawmiya for distribution)
. Ibrahim Suleiman (5thTV channel – state TV)
. Ibrahim Samir (Freelance correspondent)
. Ibrahim Talha (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
. Ibrahim Abdul-Nabi Awwad (Rassd network)
. Ahmed Al-Sakhawi (Freelance correspondent)
. Ahmed Abdul-Monem Zahran (Al-Mukhtar Al-Islami magazine)
. Ahmed Maher Ali (Freelance correspondent)
. Ahmed Nasser (Freelance journalist)
. Ahmed Hamouda Al-Sakhawi (Tahya Misr newspaper)
. Ahmed Khamis Anwar Abdul-Qawi (Stringer for satellite TV channels
. Ahmed Khamis Mahmoud Kheder (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
. Ahmed Ali Ahmed Al-Najjar (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
. Ahmed Lashin (Freelance correspondent)
. Ahmed Muharram Abdul-Salam (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
. Osama Al-Beshbeshi (Baladi website)
. Osama Hashem Mohammed Hashem (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
. Osama Ezzuddin (Freelance correspondent)
. Islam Al-Banna (Freelance correspondent)
. Islam Gomaa (Freelance correspondent)
. Ismail Al-Iskandrani (Freelance journalist)
. Angham Ghoneim (Al-Shura newspaper)
. Badr Mohammed Badr (Al-Osra Al-Arabiya)
. Bakri Abdul-Aal (Al-Raya newspaper)
. Belal Abdullah Ahmad Abdul-Rahim (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
. Jamal Al-Alem (Freelance correspondent)
. Hassan Al-Qabbani (Al-Karama newspaper)
. Hussein Abdul-Halim (Al-Dostor)
. Hamdi Mokhtar Al-Zaaem (Al-Hayat)
. Khaled Hamdi (Freelance correspondent)
. Khaled Hamza (Managing editor of IkhwanWeb)
. Khaled Said (Freelance writer)
. Khaled Abdul-Rauf Sahlob (Freelance correspondent)
. Khaled Abdul-Aziz (Freelance correspondent)
. Khaled Mohammed Abdul-Rahman (Freelance correspondent)
. Reem Qotb Jabarah Basiyuni, (Independent film director)
. Sameh Mohammed Ahmed Bakri (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
. Samhi Mostafa (Rassd network)
. Said Abu Haj (Sinai Media Center)
. Sayed Musa (Amjad TV channel)
. Shadi Abdul-Hamid (Freelance correspondent, Al-Jazeera)
. Sabri Anwar (El-Badil newspaper)
. Suhaib Saad Al-Haddad (Freelance correspondent)
. Abdullah Rashad (Albawabhnews.com)
. Abdul-Rahman Hassan Abdul-Hafiz (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
. Abdul-Rahman Shahin (Freelance correspondent)
. Abdullah Al-Fakharani (Rassd network)
. Abdullah Jamal Moftah (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
. Abdullah Shousha (Freelance correspondent)
. Emad Abu Zaid (Al-Ahram)
. Ammar Al-Nesr who were working for BBC
. Ammar Samir Abdul-Ghani Ahmed (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
. Ammar Abdul Majid (Al-Hadath website)
. Omar Khedr (Rassd network)
. Omar Abdul-Maksoud (Masralarabia.com)
. Omar Mabrouk (Freelance journalist)
. Omar Mohamed Mabrouk Al-Sawi (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
. Amr Al-Khafif (Former director of broadcast engineering in ERTU)
. Karim Mostafa Al-Sayed (Al-Shabab TV channel)
. Magdi Ahmed Hussein (Editor of Al-Shaab Al-Jadeed)
. Mohsen Radi (Al-Daawa)
. Mohammed Ibrahim Sharaf (Al-Hayat Misr TV channel)
. Mohammed Ibrahim Shukri (Al-Omma TV channel)
. Mohammed Abossoul (Akhbar Al-Youm)
. Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed Shehata (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
. Mohammed Al-Jenidi (Freelance journalist)
. Mohammed Al-Husseini (Al-Shura newspaper)
. Mohammed Al-Saeed Al-Dashti (Al-Mashhad newspaper)
. Mohammed Al-Shaer (Freelance journalist)
. Mohammad Al-Adli (Amjad TV channel)
. Mohamed Hossamuddin Abdul-Halim Al-Kafrawi (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
. Mohammed Hassan (Al-Nabaa Al-Watani)
. Mohamed Salah Sowaidan (Freelance photographer)
. Mohammed Salah Sharara (Qatari Al-Watan)
. Mohammed Salah Madani (Misr 25 TV channel)
. Mohammed Ezzat (Ikhwan Online)
. Mohammed Farag (Freelance journalist)
. Mohammed Maamoun Abu Shousha (Ahrar 25 TV channel)
. Mohammed Mostafa Abdul-Nasser Abdul-Qadir (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
. Mahmoud Jamal Ali Othman (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
. Mahmoud Hussain (Al-Jazeera TV channel)
. Mahmoud Abu Zeid, (aka Shawkan) (Demotix photo agency)
. Mahmoud Abdul-Nabi Awwad (Freelance journalist)
. Mahmoud Mostafa Saad (Al-Nahar newspaper)
. Mahmoud Yahia (Al-Omma satellite channel)
. Mohyi Qasem Mohammed Abdul-Jawwad (Stringer for satellite TV channels)
. Moataz Mostafa Shahin (Freelance journalist)
. Aliaa Awwad (Rassd News Network)
. Hisham Jaafar (MADA)
. Wael Al-Heddini (Freelance correspondent)
. Walid Shalabi (Ikhwan Online)
. Yusuf Talat (Al-Sabab TV channel)
. Asmaa Zidan (Fikra newspaper)
