Tag: journalists

El-Adly Videogate: HRW slams government cover up

Posted on By 3arabawy

The NYC-based rights watchdog slammed the Egyptian regime, in a statement yesterday, for going after Howeida Taha, Al-Jazeera reporter who’s been putting together a documentary on police abuse in Egypt and the Arab World.

“The Egyptian government seems willing to do anything to silence discussion of its torture scandal,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “This reaction makes a mockery of any claims by Egypt to be a government that respects human rights.”

UPDATE: The Committee to Protect Journalists denounced govt intimidation against Howeida…

“This case is a sham and reflects this government’s disdain for critical media,” CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said. “We call on the Egyptian authorities to immediately drop charges against Howayda Taha Matwali.”

9 rights watchdogs demand investigating torturers, not reporters

Posted on By 3arabawy

The Interior Ministry should stop hassling reporters and instead investigate the systematic torture happening within Egyptian police stations, nine local human rights organizations told General Habib el-Adly today in a joint statement.

The rights watchdogs denounced the harassment Al-Jazeera reporter Howeida Taha is facing for attempting to do a documentary on torture in Egypt’s and Arab prisons.

In other developments, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported today the Nadim Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence has sent General Adly a letter with the names of 189 police officers involved in torture cases demanding their investigation. The detailed list, put together by the anti-torture clinic, included also the police stations these officers work at, the names and dates of some of the victims they tortured.

Govt intimidates Al-Jazeera reporter

Posted on By 3arabawy

The State Security Prosecutor is interrogating an Al-Jazeera reporter on charges of “possessing material that harms national security and tarnishes the country’s image.”

Howeida Taha was doing a documentary on torture in the Arab World. She had recorded testimonies of torture victims and had videos of police brutality. Police stopped her at the airport on 8 January while leaving for Doha, and confiscated 50 videotapes, according to Al-Jazeera’s website that also said the reporter had notified previously the Interior Ministry of her project and received the required permissions.

Howeida will show up today (Sunday) morning again at the State Security Prosecutor’s office in el-Tagammu el-Khames district in Nasr City for further investigation.

On another front, yesterday’s Al-Fagr reported that Police Captain Islam Nabih is enjoying a comfortable status in “prison.” Islam, who turned out to be the son of former Security Director of Sohag Governorate Nabih Abdel Salam, is currently locked up at an officers’ detention facility attached to the Giza Security Forces camp. He spends his day, according to Al-Fagr, hanging out at the court yard in front of the officers’ bureaus, and then spends the night at his cell. He has a mobile phone, wears his own jeans and personal plainclothes, not the white prison uniform, and receives his police friends who stay up as late as 1am with him, Al-Fagr added.

In other developments, Human Rights Watch issued a statement yesterday, voicing similar concerns to those made by Amnesty International and lawyer Nasser Amin, about the risk of torture Emad Kabeer is facing in prison.

UPDATE: HR-INFO condemned the crackdown on Al-Jazeera, in a statement today.

UPDATE: Taha was released on a 10,000 Egyptian-pound ($1,754) bail.