Egyptian journalist Badr Mohamed Badr was arrested in 2017 on terrorism charges. He was scheduled for release in November 2019, but his detention was extended after prosecutors added additional charges.
Badr is a correspondent for Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera Mubasher, which has been outlawed in Egypt since 2013. He was formerly the managing editor of several newspapers, including the independent print magazine Luwa’ al-Islam, state-owned newspaper Al-Shaab, regional newspaper Afak Arabeya, and local independent newspaper Al-Usra al-Arabeya, according to news reports. Badr covered political and cultural local and regional issues and focused on the history of the Muslim Brotherhood group in his work for Al-Jazeera Mubasher.
On his X account, which counted more than 73,000 followers, Badr posted political and societal commentary.
Early on March 30, 2017, state security officers arrested Badr from an office he rented in Cairo after raiding it and confiscating his computer and car, according to reports by Al-Jazeera and other news outlets.
Authorities held Badr for one week before he appeared in front of the state prosecutor, who charged him with belonging to an illegal group, according to news reports. Badr’s family and lawyer were not aware of his whereabouts during that period, according to those reports.
On November 24, 2019, authorities ordered Badr’s release, and on December 3, authorities transferred him to a police station in Cairo to start his release procedures. However, he remained detained without any contact with his family and lawyer for almost three months, according to those reports.
On February 22, 2020, Badr appeared before the state prosecutor, who overturned his release order, charged him again with belonging to an illegal group, and ordered him to remain in pretrial detention pending both terrorism charges, according to a report by regional rights group the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information.
The Egyptian penal code allows detainees to be held in pretrial detention for a maximum period of two years, but it is common for Egyptian authorities to file additional charges against detainees to extend that period, in what has become known as the “revolving door policy.”
As of September 2023, Badr had completed six and a half years in pretrial detention on various cases and was held in the Tora Prison complex in Cairo. Badr suffers from diabetes and requires medical treatment, according to his lawyers and family.
The Ministry of Interior, which oversees the police, the prison system, and the prosecutor general’s office, did not answer CPJ’s emails requesting comment on Badr’s case in late 2023.