Freelance journalist Ismail Alexandrani was arrested on September 24, 2025, at a checkpoint in Egypt’s Matrouh Governorate and charged with being a member of a terrorist group, spreading false news and rumors, and using a website to promote terrorist ideas. Authorities ordered that he be held for 15 days pending investigation. He has yet to be released.
Alexandrani previously served a seven-year prison sentence, from 2015 to 2022, after a military court convicted him of publishing military secrets, joining a banned group, and spreading false news abroad.
After his latest arrest, authorities presented 17 Facebook posts as evidence against him. In one post, Alexandrani criticized Egypt’s “rotation system,” a practice that allows authorities to keep critics in detention even after they have completed their sentences or past the maximum pretrial detention period allowed by law. Last month, U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk urged Egypt to end the practice.
Alexandrani writes for several outlets, including the Cairo-based independent news site Al-Manassa and the Lebanon-based Al-Safir Al-Arabi. He also publishes original reporting and commentary on his Facebook page, which has more than 82,000 followers.
On October 5, a video conference hearing was held to review his case. The prosecution decided to extend his detention for 15 days, and his detention was renewed again on October 19, according to a lawyer who requested anonymity.
His lawyers have expressed concern about his health in detention, saying he suffers from diabetes and breathing difficulties and requires a medical device while sleeping. They said part of the device was missing after it was confiscated by National Security Agency (NSA) officers.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office did not immediately respond to CPJ’s request for comment on the reasons behind Alexandrani’s arrest or the NSA officers’ confiscation of his medical device.