ALEXANDRIA: Prosecutors in Alexandria ordered the detention of a journalist and a photographer who were filming a report on the city’s iconic tramway on several charges.
Journalist Mai Saeed and photographer Ahmed Mostafa will be detained for 15 days pending investigations on several charges.
The journalist’s fiancee, Karam Zakareya, wrote on Facebook that Saeed is facing charges including the filming and documenting without a permit, as well as the the possession of audio and video recordings with the aims of disseminating false news that threatens public safety.
Zakareya said his fiancee is working for a UAE-based newspaper and another Lebanese news website.
He said Saaed was filming a report on Alexandria’s tramway in Mansheya and how the relationship between Egyptian passengers and tram employees had evolved over history.
“My fiancee is charged with all this just because she’s working on a report about Alexandria’s tramway. My lovely innocent fiancee has to stay in prison for 15 days merely for doing her job? I can’t believe this is real,” Zakareya wrote on Facebook on Friday.
Egypt has been at the center of backlash regarding freedom of the press levels. In 2016, the head of the Egyptian Press Syndicate was arrested, in what Amnesty International called “an unprecedented crackdown” on media in Egypt.
