The International Press Institute (IPI), a global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists for press freedom, today vehemently condemned the arrest and imprisonment of Basama Mostafa, a Egyptian journalist for Al Manassa website on Sunday.
According to media reports, Mostafa, was when she had travelled to Luxor district on October 3 to cover the clashes between residents and police in the Awamiya village. The villagers were protesting the killing of one of the residents by the security forces.
On October 4 the state security prosecution of Cairo charged Mostafa with 鈥渏oining a terrorist group鈥�, 鈥渟preading false information鈥� and 鈥減ublishing it on a website鈥� and decided to detain her for 15 days pending investigation.
Mostafa is the wife of human rights lawyer Karim Abdelrady, who represents several detained journalists and human rights defenders in Egypt.
鈥淭he detention of Basama Mostafa is extremely outrageous and a crude attempt to not only silence her but also her husband Karim Abdelrady, a noted human rights lawyer defending journalists and human rights activists detained by the al-Sisi regime鈥�, IPI Director of Advocacy Ravi R. Prasad said. 鈥淚t is shocking that the international community has turned a blind eye to the gross press freedom and human rights violations in Egypt.鈥�
More than 60 journalists are behind bars in Egypt鈥檚 overcrowded prisons according to IPI鈥檚聽#PressEgypt聽data. Recently a prominent journalist, Mohamed Mounir, died after contracting Covid-19 while in pre-trial detention in Cairo鈥檚 notorious Tora prison.
Despite never having been charged, tried or convicted, IPI member and Al Jazeera journalist聽Mahmoud Hussein聽has now spent more than 1,380 days in pre-trial detention in Cairo鈥檚 notorious Tora prison on politically motivated charges of broadcasting 鈥渇ake news鈥� and 鈥渄efaming鈥� state institutions.
Hussein鈥檚 imprisonment has been repeatedly and illegally extended by the Egyptian government in clear violation of both the Egyptian penal code and international law, demonstrating the wilful disregard for the rule of law. On August 9 his detention was extended by another 45 days.
Egyptian authorities frequently聽聽and bring new trumped-up charges against imprisoned human rights defenders as a way to circumvent the two-year limit on pre-trial detention and keep them behind bars once they receive a release order in one case. This practice is known as 鈥渞ecycling cases鈥�.