Egyptian journalists to protest at syndicate HQ in solidarity with jailed colleagues

Journalists across Egypt called for a gathering next week at the headquarters of the Journalists' Syndicate in downtown Cairo in solidarity with jailed colleagues and after two journalists were detained in separate night raids from their homes.

The syndicate's freedoms committee is scheduled to hold a press conference on Monday evening, 29 July, followed by a symbolic sit-in, also, in support of at least 23 Egyptian journalists currently held behind bars, many of whom have not stood trial.

Satirical cartoonist Ashraf Omar with local independent outlet Al-Manasa and the Saudi-funded MBC group's senior journalist, Khaled Mamdouh, were subjected to enforced disappearance before facing terrorism-related charges.

On the night of Monday 22 July, unidentified security forces raided Omar's house inside a gated residential complex in the suburbs of Giza province, southwest of Cairo, confiscating his laptop and a substantial sum of money belonging to his wife. The security forces then blindfolded and took him to an undisclosed location.

Three days later, Omar's current whereabouts are unknown. A Cairo state prosecutor charged him with "disseminating false news", "being involved in a terrorist group" and misusing social media, a set of charges commonly used over the past decade against the Sisi regime's critics, activists, and journalists.

The cartoonist's arrest is believed to be triggered by his outspoken criticism against the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, including the sale of state assets to wealthy Gulf nations and electricity blackouts during an unforgiving heatwave.

In one of Omar's cartoons published less than a week to his detention, a government official is depicted as a thief offering a map of Egypt to another one dressed in a traditional Gulf outfit and holding a shopping cart.

No political affiliations?  

Less than a week earlier, at dawn on 16 July, policemen in plain clothes detained Mamdouh, and reportedly assaulted his family members and refused to show their credentials as they seized his laptop and all other electronic devices. They also took him to an unidentified site.

Despite frequent complaints officially filed by his family members and the Journalists Syndicate before the prosecutor general's office and other concerned authorities, 55-year-old Mamdouh was subjected to enforced disappearance for about six days before being questioned by a state security prosecutor.

Mamdouh has, surprisingly, refrained from tackling Egyptian affairs for over 18 years, focusing, at some point, on sports news. He worked for years as an announcer for a state radio channel broadcast for audiences overseas.

"Khaled is known for having no political affiliations. He left Egypt for the UAE during the second half of the 2000s to start his career at the bureau of MBC group's Al-Arabiya news broadcaster in Dubai. There, he climbed the corporate ladder and became in a senior managerial post, before he returned home," a source close to Mamdouh's family told The New Arab, on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.

His brother-in-law, Nagy Kamel, claimed in media interviews and on social media platforms that Mamdouh recently received a job offer from United Media Services, an outlet reportedly funded and controlled by Egypt's intelligence agencies; implying, that Mamdouh did not rise red flags for authorities.

It remains unclear until the publication time whether the job offer in question had anything to do with Mamdouh's detention. 

Meanwhile, both Omar and Mamdouh have been remanded in custody for 15 days, pending further investigations into the charges against them. 

Wide condemnations

Local and international human rights groups as well as free expression and press freedom advocates were quick to react to the detention of both journalists and the others, calling on the authorities to release them.

"The Egyptian government has long been a notorious jailer of journalists, prosecuting and locking up media workers solely for their legitimate work. The targeting of the journalist and the cartoonist in a matter of days once again shows media workers in Egypt that critical content can land them in jail even if it is satirical," said Mahmoud Shalaby, Amnesty International's Egypt researcher.

"The authorities must immediately and unconditionally release cartoonist Ashraf Omar and journalist Khaled Mamdouh and drop all charges against them, as these solely stem from their media work. Instead of perceiving independent journalism as a threat, the authorities must allow journalists to work freely without fear of intimidation, reprisals or censorship," Shalaby added. 

Sisi has been running the country with an iron fist since he took office following a military coup in 2013. Media freedom and civil rights have sharply deteriorated since then.

Some 600 local and international news sites have also been blocked in Egypt, including Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, the Arabic-language sister publication to TNA.

In April last year, the Egyptian security authorities listed 33 journalists on a new "terrorism" watch list among 82 people, including activists, politicians, and human rights defenders, all living in self-exile outside the country.

Egypt is ranked as the world's third-worst jailer of journalists.