Retired Police Brigadier General Mahmoud Qutri will stand in court, 14 April, facing accusations from the Mubarak’s regime that he “insulted the Interior Ministry” by going public with details regarding the ministry’s rigging of elections, systematic use of torture, as well as the militarization of the police force—a process that starts in the Police Academy, about which he wrote a fiction novel titled “The Confessions of a Police Officer in the City of Wolves.”
From the Daily News Egypt:
Egypt was ranked seventh in the world’s top 10 “backsliders” by the New York-based Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ).
In its annual report, CPJ listed the top 10 countries where press freedom has deteriorated most in the last five years.
The report said 2007 was the worst year for journalism and press freedom in a decade.
From Al-Jazeera:
Howayda Taha, a documentary producer for Al Jazeera, has been released after being held for 15 hours by Egyptian police.
Taha was arrested on Monday for allegedly filming without a proper licence, her lawyer and police said.
She is already appealing an earlier jail sentence after reporting on alleged torture in police stations.
Taha was working on a film about farm laborers in a low-income neighborhood in Cairo when police detained her early on Monday and questioned her late into the evening.
Ahmad Helmi, her lawyer, said on Tuesday she had all the necessary papers issued to her from the Egyptian press center.
Police confiscated her tapes and sent them to be inspected by the department of artistic inspection, Helmi said.
It was not clear if any charges would be raised.
“She is under a constant police watch, they want to ban her from working in Egypt,” he said.
Police said four other people were arrested with her, including three crew members and an Egyptian human-rights activist.
Taha was sentenced in absentia in May to six months in jail and fined $5,600 for working on a documentary highlighting torture in police stations.
She has appealed against the sentence. The appeals court is due to deliver its ruling on February 11.