The International Press Institute (IPI), a global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists for press freedom, today condemned the arrest of Egyptian journalist Mohamed Mounir and called on Egypt to immediately release him.
Mounir, founder of the , was arrested by security forces in the morning of June 15 , and held at an unknown location for several hours before being brought for the investigation before the State Security Prosecution, according to the .
According to the journalist鈥檚 family, the arrest came after his appearance on a television program on Al-Jazeera, where he discussed a dispute between the Coptic Orthodox Church and the newspaper Rose al- Youssef over a controversial cover page. On Saturday, police reportedly raided the journalist鈥檚 apartment twice and searched through his belongings.
鈥淭hrough arbitrary detention and arrest of journalists, Egyptian government continues to violate and stifle press freedom鈥�, IPI Director of Advocacy Ravi R. Prasad said. 鈥淧resident Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has turned a blind eye to demands for the release of over 60 journalists in prison. The international community should not remain silent to the Egypt鈥檚 ongoing harassment of journalists and blatant violation of their rights.鈥�
Currently, there are more than 60 journalists imprisoned in Egypt, according to IPI鈥檚 research. Many of those have not been charged and their detention has been repeatedly extended arbitrarily. IPI has been campaigning for their release through its #PressEgypt campaign.
In April, IPI had聽urged聽the Egyptian government to release all detained journalists amid concerns over the spread of COVID-19 in prisons. A week later, IPI and 80 other organizations wrote an聽open letter聽to heads of government of 10 African countries, including Egypt, to release all journalists held in prison in their respective countries.