World

Six Egyptian Journalists Arrested, Alleged Torture Sparks Planned Protest

By Guardian staff reporter

Six journalists from the independent fact‑checking platform Matsadaash were arrested in Cairo last week on terrorism charges. Authorities accused them of being unlicensed and of publishing false news for the banned Muslim Brotherhood. The men – Abdallah Qadri, Mohamed Ashraf Abu Emeira, Mohamed Adel, Islam Barakat, Mohamed Mahmoud and Omar Helal – were taken from their homes and from the street by plainclothes officers. One was charged on Sunday; the other five on Wednesday. All six have told lawyers that they were tortured and forced to film false confessions, claims that police deny. "We were horrified by the news of the torture of our six colleagues," said Hadeer El‑Mahdawy, a member of the protest’s organising committee. A public prosecution statement issued Wednesday evening said forensic examinations of three journalists who alleged ill‑treatment found no injuries or signs of violence. Another Matsadaash journalist, Rasha Azab, was questioned by the supreme state security prosecution over a social‑media post criticising the interior ministry. She was released on bail but faces charges of using a website to promote ideas advocating terrorist crimes. Her lawyer, Mahienour El‑Masry, said prosecutors presented 11 identical complaints from different governorates about the post. Lobna Darwish of the Egyptian Journalists’ Syndicate, whose lawyers represent the six, said the detainees reported being blindfolded, handcuffed for days, beaten, forcibly stripped and given electric shocks. They also described threats to harm family members. The journalists claimed they were forced to read purported confessions from sheets of paper in filmed sessions with repeated takes before professional crews. The interior ministry has denied the allegations, calling them baseless and an attempt by the detainees to evade accusations. It described the six as “Muslim Brotherhood elements working for the group.” The arrests and alleged abuse are part of a broader crackdown on independent media, amid poor pay and insecure employment for journalists. "We are at a very difficult moment on every level," El‑Mahdawy said. "But it is very important that we declare our rejection of what is happening and use every tool we have to protect what remains of this profession, and to defend our colleagues and ourselves."