Two Al Jazeera journalists, Rabie Al-Sheikh and Bahaa Eldin Ibrahim, were released by Egyptian authorities after being held in pre-trial detention for four years, as announced on Friday by the Qatar-based news outlet. They were arrested on charges of spreading false information.
Ibrahim was arrested at Borg El Arab Airport in Alexandria on February 22, 2020. In 2023, Al Jazeera demanded his release, highlighting their claim of alleged illegal violations during his detention such as enforced disappearance, torture, and solitary confinement. In similar circumstances, the network appealed for the release of Al-Sheikh, who was arrested in Cairo in August 2021.
Prior to their release, the duration of Ibrahim’s detention was extended by an Egyptian court in February 2023. Around this period, another journalist, Hisham Abdelaziz, who had been charged with membership of a terrorist group and spreading false information, was also released from prison after being detained since 2019.
The targeting and detention of journalists have become significantly prevalent since President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi took power in 2014. Al Jazeera journalist Mahmoud Hussein was charged with overthrowing the government in 2016 and subsequently released in 2021 after enduring pretrial detention. Al Jazeera has criticized the 15-year prison sentence awarded to another of its journalists, Ahmed Taha, who was charged in absentia in 2022 with spreading misinformation.
The crackdown on journalists has been widely condemned by human rights organizations. Amnesty International denounced the crackdown on journalists in Egypt, asserting that it infringes upon the right to freedom of speech and to public access to independent information. The International Federation of Journalists also called upon Egyptian authorities to liberate all detained journalists in 2022.
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