Expression
On 27th July 2024, security forces that included officers from the Abdeen police station, the Censorship of Artistic Works police, and the Anti-Tax Evasion police raided the headquarters of El Maraya for Culture and Arts. It is reported that the search took at least five hours, and ended up with the seizure of 217 books, a computer, and four boxes containing financial documents. In solidarity with El Maraya, 10 civil society organisations issued a joint statement and condemned the political regime’s continued use of security services to intimidate society. They called on the Egyptian authorities to stop targeting El Maraya and other independent cultural organisations, and to respect freedom of creativity and artistic expression.
In a separate incident, a third lawsuit was filed against poet Galal ElBehairy after his arrest for writing the song “Balaha.” The song criticises the president’s policies. As AFTE reports the Ministry of Interior refrained from implementing the procedures for ElBehairy’s release, and he remains illegally detained.
Similarly, the detention of journalist Khaled Mamdouh Mohamed Ibrahim continues. He was accused of joining a terrorist group with knowledge of its objectives, financing a terrorist group, and publishing and broadcasting fake news and statements that would harm security and public order. That preventive detention has since been renewed for a further two weeks on 29th July and then on 12th August.
Egyptian authorities systematically use this method of imprisonment without trial against journalists critical of President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi's regime, and this repression must stop. Khaled Mamdouh must be released immediately and acquitted of the charges. Egypt's foreign partners must put pressure on the authorities so that journalists can work freely in the country.
- https://rsf.org/en/egypt-kidnapped-month-ago-security-forces-journalist-khaled-mamdouh-must-be-released