EGYPT BANS PROMINENT JOURNALIST FROM TRAVELING

Cairo, 26 Rajab 1435/25 May 2014 (MINA) – Egyptian airport authorities arbitrarily banned prominent columnist Fahmi Huwaidi from traveling to the Spanish capital Madrid on Friday, Anadolu news agency reported.

According to security sources, Huwaidi was scheduled to fly to Madrid via EgyptAir, but was barred after airport authorities found his name included in a no-fly list, Middle East Monitor (MEMO) quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Huwaidi was allowed to return home and no further measures were taken against him.

Middle East Monitor regulary translates articles and blogs written by Huwaidi from the Arab media.

Two journalists were arrested in Egypt on Wednesday and new charges filed against three others, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Egyptian government’s renewed crackdown on the press as presidential elections approach in May.

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“If the Egyptian government is serious about organizing free and fair presidential elections, it must end this campaign against the press and release all journalists in jail,” said Sherif Mansour, Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ)’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator.

Egyptian authorities often use legal harassment and detention as a means to silence critical journalists, including those affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, according to CPJ research. More than 60 journalists have been detained since July 2013, when the Egyptian army ousted former President Mohamed Morsi, according to CPJ research. Most have been freed.

In a separate case, Egyptian authorities in late March substituted charges against three journalists–Abdullah Alfakharany, co-founder of the critical news websiteRassd, Samhi Mustafa, Rassd’s executive director, and Mohamed al-Adly, presenter of the religious satellite channel Amgad TV–who have been detained since August 2013, according to reports.

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Egyptian Prosecutor-General Hisham Barakat charged the journalists with “spreading chaos” and “spreading false information” in their coverage of fatalities and injuries sustained during the dispersal of the pro-Morsi sit-in at Rabaa Al-Adaweya square in Cairo in August. The previous charges against the journalists were unrelated to their work and included “disturbing the peace,” according to their lawyer, Ahmed Helmy. The lawyer denied the new charges against them.

In another case, a Giza criminal court today adjourned the trial against three Al-Jazeera journalists–Cairo Bureau Chief Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, correspondent Peter Greste, and producer Baher Mohamed–to April 22, and denied their request for release on bail, according to Al-Jazeera. The three have been held since December.

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Mohamed Lotfy, an Egypt researcher for Amnesty International who is monitoring the trial in Cairo, told CPJ that the court had watched videos found on Greste’s flash drive that showed a press conference in Kenya, a BBC film on Somalia, and a report on tourism in Egypt’s Luxor City, in addition to the 2012 elections in Egypt. None of the reports were produced while Greste was working for Al-Jazeera, news accounts said.

“Authorities clearly have no evidence to indict these three journalists, and we call for their immediate release,” CPJ’s Mansour said. “The Egyptian government is only embarrassing itself further each time the trial is prolonged.”(T/P03/E01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)