Activists, journalists condemn Al-Jazeera reporter’s arrest

Press freedom activists and journalists condemned the arrest of satellite TV news station Al-Jazeera’s Cairo bureau chief Hussein Abdel Ghani on Wednesday, calling it an attack on journalists everywhere and a violation of freedom of expression. “This constitutes an attack on journalists’ right to broadcast information in a transparent, unbiased way to the public,” said Samir Omar, a Cairo-based correspondent for the pan-Arab satellite television channel. Abdel Ghani was reportedly detained earlier this week from his hotel in Dahab, 610 km south-east of Cairo, by plainclothes central security officers, from where he was reporting on the latest developments of Monday’s bombing that killed 18 people. “He was not told he was under arrest at first,” said Omar. “Instead, he was approached by three plainclothes security officers who told him he had been summoned for a brief chat with the security bureau.” He was then transported from Dahab to Cairo where he is currently being questioned by the state prosecutor for allegedly broadcasting “false news” about the circumstances of the bombing and for “posing a threat to state security”, according to Omar. Although it is not the first time for a journalist to be arrested in Egypt, activists have endorsed the professionalism of Abdel Ghani’s Dahab reportage, describing it as “the most transparent, unbiased and up-to-date”, according to Ibrahim Nawar, director of the Cairo-based Arab Press Freedom Watch. “Not only is this an attack on journalists’ right to broadcast clear, unbiased information,” said Nawar. “It’s also an attack on the public’s right to know the truth about the Dahab attacks.” Activists highlighted the role of Al-Jazeera – which made its debut in the mid-1990s – in forcing debates in Egypt that state-run networks had previously avoided. “In a sense, the arrest is intended to deliver a message and punish Al-Jazeera for its coverage,” said Gamal Eid, director of the Arabic Human Rights Information Network. “Having failed to protect Egyptians from terrorist attacks, the government has now turned to attacking journalists and the media to prevent that failure from becoming obvious.” There was no response from the government following Abdel Ghani's arrest.