Egypt / Middle East & North Africa

Washington, D.C., January 15, 2020 — Egyptian authorities yesterday arrested at least four people at the Anadolu News Agency office in Cairo on allegations of spreading false news and operating without a license, according to a report by the agency and other news reports.

For the fourth consecutive year, at least 250 journalists are imprisoned globally as authoritarians like Xi Jinping, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Mohammed bin Salman, and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi show no signs of letting up on the critical media. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

New York, November 27, 2019 — Egyptian authorities should immediately release journalists Solafa Sallam, Hossam El-Sayyad, and Mohamed Salah, drop any charges against them, and stop imprisoning and harassing the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

November 24, 2019—The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemned today’s raid on the office of independent Egyptian news website Mada Masr by Egyptian authorities, which included the arrests of three staffers. CPJ called on the government of Egypt to end its campaign of intimidation against the outlet and to release all Mada staff.

On October 10, Mahmoud Abu Zeid turned 33. It was the Egyptian photojournalist’s first birthday out of prison since his August 2013 arrest. But in spite of his celebrated freedom in March, the police monitoring conditions of his probation have, in effect, rendered his release obsolete.

Washington, D.C., October 15, 2019 — Egyptian authorities must immediately release imprisoned journalist Esraa Abdel Fattah, drop all charges against her, and investigate allegations that she was physically abused in state custody, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Washington, D.C., September 30, 2019 — Egyptian authorities should immediately release journalists Alaa Abdelfattah, Nasser Abdelhafez, Engi Abdel Wahab, and all others who have been imprisoned for their reporting, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Washington, D.C., September 23, 2019 — Egyptian authorities must release any journalists arrested covering protests and stop restricting access to news and social media websites, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Washington, D.C., September 10, 2019 — Egyptian authorities must immediately release Omar Shandi and stop harassing the families of critical journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, June 25, 2019 — Egyptian authorities should immediately unblock the website of al-Tahrir newspaper and ensure that media outlets can publish online freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.