Egyptian journalist Mahmoud Saad Diab was arrested in September 2022 on anti-state charges.
Diab is a reporter and columnist for state-run newspaper Al-Ahram, where he covers local and international political and cultural news, including Chinese affairs, according to news reports and a local journalist following Diab’s case who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal. Diab also works for China Central Television (CCTV), and often travels to Beijing for work, according to those sources.
On September 6, state security officers arrested Diab from Cairo International Airport as he boarded a flight to China, according to news reports. For two months, the journalist’s family was unaware of his whereabouts, the reports said.
Egyptian prosecutors charged him with conspiring against the state with foreign organizations, and ordered his detention pending trial, according to news reports and the local journalist. CPJ was unable to determine where Diab is held.
Diab is diabetic and requires daily medications which his family does not know if he is receiving in custody, according to news reports and the local journalist.
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 Diab’s case in November 2022.