French journalist Ariane Lavrilleux was detained on Tuesday by the French General Directorate of Internal Security (CGSI) following accusations that her 2021 published report on a covert French military operation in Egypt leaked national defense secrets.
The compromising report, the Egypt Papers, was released on Disclose, an independent media platform. In addition to the written report, Disclose had also put out a documentary by the name of Operation Sirli: France’s Complicity in State Crimes in Egypt,
Lavrilleux is accused of both violating national defense secrets and releasing information that could lead to the identification of a ‘protected agent.’ After two days in custody, during which her residence was searched, she was released on Wednesday evening.
The Egypt Papers were formulated once Disclose had access to confidential French governmental documents revealing “abuses committed during a secret military operation by France in Egypt.” Disclose asserted that it exposed the classified information in defense of the ‘right to knowledge,’ an essential democratic principle.
The documents allegedly reveal that the French government was notified about state crimes tied to a “campaign of arbitrary executions,” and despite that, decided to take no action. Questions were raised regarding France’s role and its responsibility in the crimes committed under the governance of President Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil el-Sisi in Egypt.
Human rights organizations like Amnesty International criticized Lavrilleux’s arrest, labeling it an “attempt to cover up a pattern of complicity in serious human rights abuses.”
Pavol Szalai, the head of Reporters without Borders’ EU-Balkans Desk, remarked that if Lavrilleux’s arrest and house search were a result of her journalistic activities, it represented a significant attack on the confidentiality of journalists’ sources. Disclose responded to the arrest with a statement, calling it an “unacceptable intimidation of Disclose journalists” with the intention of identifying the sources who disclosed the Sirli military operation in Egypt.
With the goal to protect journalists’ security, the European Federation of Journalists declared its intentions to file an alert on the Council of Europe’s platform.
For a more detailed read, visit the original reporting found on Jurist – News.