Journalist forcibly disappeared in Egypt – Middle East Monitor

An Egyptian journalist forcibly disappeared while covering popular protests against the regime of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, news agencies reported yesterday.

30-year-old Basma Mustafa, who worked for the Al-Manassa news website, told about police crackdown on protesters in Luxor after a youth was killed last week.

Her co-workers last heard from her at 11:15 a.m. on Saturday when she reported that a police officer was monitoring her after checking her ID.

“A police officer stopped me in Luxor City, checked my ID, and then allowed me to continue,” Al-Manassa reported. “But the policeman kept following me,” she added.

On Sunday evening, Al Jazeera reported her lawyer and family that Mustafa had appeared at the headquarters of the Egyptian prosecutor’s office in Cairo.

READ: Even rural Egyptians are protesting again

Her husband, Karim Abdel-Rady, a lawyer specializing in rights, is said to have been tried by the public prosecutor in Cairo. This has been confirmed by Khaled Ali, another lawyer involved in the case.

Al-Manassa reports that Mustafa was interrogated and ordered to be detained for 14 days; their lawyers did not know what charges were being brought against them because they were not allowed to attend the interrogation.

Egyptians have been protesting against the ruling regime since September 20, after people were unable to eat due to rising prices and house demolitions made them homeless.

The protests were called by the whistleblower Mohamed Ali, who protested against the regime last year following his allegations of corruption.

Comments are closed.