(Doha) Al Jazeera television said on Monday that journalist Rabie El Sheikh’s health was deteriorating after a year in solitary confinement in an Egyptian prison and condemned Cairo’s decision to extend his detention for 45 days.
Posted at 4:02 p.m.
Egyptian producer of Al Jazeera Mubasher (Al Jazeera live) was arrested on 1er August last year at Cairo airport where he had arrived for a family visit.
The journalist was initially charged with “spreading false news” but was never charged.
In a press release, the Qatari channel, “deplores” the decision to keep him in detention in one of the harshest prisons in Egypt for another 45 days.
“The extensions of his solitary confinement in the notorious Tora prison have seriously affected and led to the deterioration of his physical and mental health,” the channel said.
“Al Jazeera views the journalist’s detention as an attack on press freedom and holds the Egyptian authorities responsible for the safety of El Sheikh and all other journalists detained and imprisoned simply for carrying out their duties as journalists.” »
The channel demands in its press release “the release of El Sheikh and three other Al Jazeera correspondents, Hisham Abdel Aziz, Bahauddin Ibrahim and Ahmed Al Najdi” who are being held without trial or charge”.
Egypt is regularly singled out for its human rights record, with more than 60,000 prisoners of conscience, including several jailed for ‘spreading false information’, according to international NGOs
The country has about twenty reporters behind bars and finds itself in 168e position out of 180 in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2022 press freedom index.