Egypt: Three freelance journalists arrested after search

Three journalists from independent Egyptian media Mada Masr were arrested during a search by plain-clothes police on Sunday, the online news site said.

The arrests come one day after another Mada Masr journalist, 37-year-old Shady Zalat, who was finally released on Sunday according to the media’s Twitter account.

« We recovered our phones and computers. The security forces are gone. Lina Attalah, Mohamed Hamama and Rana Mamdouh were brought to the prosecutor’s office, according to one of the men (security forces) who entered our offices, « Mada Masr wrote.

A team from France 24 who came to interview Ms. Attalah, editor-in-chief of Mada Masr, about the arrest of Mr. Zalat, was in the premises during the search.

« The police were already on the premises when we arrived, » Eric de Lavarene, one of the two French journalists working for France 24, told AFP.

« We asked why we were detained but no one answered, » he added, noting that he had time to call the French embassy.

Dispatched on site, two French diplomats could not enter the premises, but left with the two journalists late afternoon.

Mada Masr is known for her investigations of corruption and security issues, published in Arabic and English.

Wave of repression against discordant voices

Last week, Mada Masr published an article claiming that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s son, Mahmoud, an intelligence officer, was to be transferred to Moscow for a diplomatic post.

His reassignment would occur after internal criticism within the security apparatus, according to the article.

Amnesty International has denounced the search and called on the government to « refrain from punishing journalists for exercising their legitimate job ».

Since Sissi came to power in 2014, a crackdown has taken place against Egyptian journalists, opponents and activists.

Mada Masr is one of the hundreds of news websites blocked by the Egyptian authorities in recent years, and access to which is possible for Egyptians via a VPN application.

Egypt is the country that jails the most journalists in the world after China and Turkey, according to the Committee for the Protection of Journalists, a New York-based association.