International reports on press freedoms from Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have ranked Egypt as the country with the second-highest number of jailed journalists in the world. As of December, CPJ claims that 23 Egyptian journalists are imprisoned, the highest figure for Egypt since the committee began recording, while the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) says the figure is as high as 63. The Egyptian Journalists’ Syndicate statistics indicate 32 imprisonments, including 18 cases related to journalism. Ismail Alexandrani The most recent arrest was on 29 November, when Ismail Alexandrani, a freelance investigative reporter and researcher specializing in jihadi movements in the Sinai Peninsula, was arrested at Hurghada airport. He was detained on his return from Berlin, pending investigations into the alleged charges of spreading “false news and rumors” and belonging to a “terrorist” group. The ‘Operations Room’ Six The “Rabaa operations room” case alone includes six journalists. They are charged with disseminating false news, inciting violence and chaos and being part of an “operations room to direct the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood to defy the government during the Rabaa Al-Adaweya sit-in dispersal and to spread chaos…
Egypt Witnesses Record Number of Imprisoned Journalists in 2015: Reports
December 15, 2015
