مؤسسة سيناء لحقوق الإنسان - Human Rights Organizations Condemn Crackdown on Egyptian Journalists, and Warn of Widening Press Freedom Violations

07 Aug 2024

Human Rights Organizations Condemn Crackdown on Egyptian Journalists, and Warn of Widening Press Freedom Violations

07 أغسطس 2024

The undersigned organizations condemn the repeated security crackdown on and prosecution and enforced disappearance of journalists only for practicing their journalistic duties. The latest incident in this regard was the Supreme State Security Prosecution’s decision to remand journalists Khaled Mamdouh and Ashraf Omar in custody in two separate cases in July. The undersigned organizations also condemn the State Security Prosecution’s refusal to allow the lawyers of the Journalists Syndicate and the lawyer of the Al-Manassa website to attend the interrogation session with Omar, as well as the failure to investigate the enforced disappearance of Mamdouh for nearly six days and Omar for two days, without enabling them to communicate with their families or lawyers.

The undersigned organizations stress that the continued prosecution of journalists disproves any claims that Egypt is undergoing a phase of political openness, especially as the Journalists Syndicate made strenuous efforts to release all detained journalists, whose number is at least nine, some of whom were detained for a long time without being released or referred to trial.

The official narrative conspicuously pushes for improving the conditions and rules of pretrial detention stipulated in the Criminal Procedures Law and its alternatives in order to achieve justice and prevent the use of pretrial detention as punishment in itself, as happened in the last session of the National Dialogue, which is being held under the auspices of the President of the Republic. This, however, contradicts the reality of thousands of pretrial detainees, as the current law is not implemented on the one hand, and the same security and judicial practices aimed to punish, terrorize and prosecute journalists continue on the other hand. The Ministry of Interior, meanwhile, continues to monitor, forcibly disappear and detain citizens.

Khaled Mamdouh was arrested in front of his house in the Mokattam neighbourhood in Cairo on 16 July, and then taken to an unknown destination. He remained under enforced disappearance for six days, then appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution on 21 July, in connection with Case No. 1282 of 2024 (Supreme State Security Prosecution).

Meanwhile, a security force raided the house of translator and cartoonist Ashraf Omar in the early hours of 22 July and arrested him after destroying some of the contents of his house and seizing a large sum of money. He was then taken blindfolded to an unknown location and remained under enforced disappearance for two days. Omar appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution in the Fifth Settlement on 24 July, in connection with Case No. 1968 of 2024 (Supreme State Security Prosecution). The prosecution remanded Mamdouh and Omar in custody for 15 days pending investigations.

The clampdown on Mamdouh and Omar raises concerns that it will be the beginning of a security campaign against independent journalists, especially those working for Arabic Post and Al-Manassa websites. It comes at a time when the Journalists Syndicate’s calls for releasing detained journalists and stopping the crackdown on them fell on deaf ears.

The undersigned organizations call on the Public Prosecution to quickly release Mamdouh and Omar, drop the charges levelled against them, close investigations into their cases, and stop colluding with the security services to muzzle voices. The organizations also reiterate their call on the Egyptian authorities to cooperate with the Journalists Syndicate and its Council in order to settle the cases of all imprisoned journalists while at the same time providing the necessary protection for journalists during their work, and stopping security practices against them.

Signatories: