The situation for journalists in Egypt has become “unacceptable” with dozens of reporters and bloggers being held in jail, Reporters Without Borders has said in an open letter to the president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.

The Paris-based watchdog urged the government to release at least 32 reporters said to be being detained or serving prison sentences.

In April last year, Reporters without Borders ranked Egypt 158th out of 180 countries in its global press freedom index. Since then, the number of raids on media organisations and reporter arrests has continued to rise.

In December, the Committee to Protect Journalists listed Egypt as the second biggest jailer of journalists worldwide, trailing shortly behind China. The number of those imprisoned rose dramatically in 2015, nearly doubling after Sisi’s administration assumed power.

Prominent cases include the detention of investigative reporter Hossam Bahgat, who was summoned for questioning by military intelligence over an article he wrote for the online news site Mada Masr in early November.

Bahgat was detained and released two days later after agreeing not to write about the army beyond specific legal boundaries set out by the authorities. The case against him remains ongoing.

“In 2015, Egypt became one the world’s biggest prisons for journalists. In most cases, their only ‘error’ was to have covered demonstrations or protests or to have spoken with members of the Muslim Brotherhood [which Egypt has declared to be a ‘terrorist organisation’] in the course of their reporting,” Reporters Without Borders said.

Working as a journalist in Egypt has become as dangerous as openly demonstrating against the regime Reporters Without Borders

The high-profile case against three al-Jazeera journalists shed light on Egypt’s harsh treatment of reporters. Photograph: Cui Xinyu/REX

It argues that several journalists are being “held on trumped-up charges unrelated to press offences” – including charges of affiliation with a terrorist organisation, partaking in unauthorised protests, disseminating false information and disturbing the public order.



In November, authorities arrested the investigative journalist and researcher Ismail Alexandrani on charges of belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood and disseminating false information.

His detention has repeatedly been renewed since his arrest. Several rights groups have denounced his treatment, arguing he is being targeted for his criticism of the authorities.

Reporters Without Borders said Alexandrani’s case showed that “working as a journalist in Egypt has become as dangerous as openly demonstrating against the regime”.

The letter also describes how many of the journalists have been “subjected to unjust trials that violate Egypt’s 2014 constitution and international human rights law, demonstrating the Egyptian justice system’s lack of independence”.

“Respect for the fundamental freedoms of Egyptian citizens and foreign residents has unfortunately declined since [Sisi] became Egypt’s president in 2014,” the letter claims.

Cases

The watchdog also outlined several of the high-profile cases against journalists since the military-led takeover of government in July 2013.

It gives the example of photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, popularly known as Shawkan, who spent more than two years in jail before standing trial – violating the penal code’s two-year cap on pretrial detention.

The letter also pointed to the three journalists killed by security forces while covering the dispersal of the pro-Muslim Brotherhood Rabea al-Adaweya sit-in on 14 August 2013.



More than two years later, “no investigation had been opened into the deaths of these journalists or the massacre that took place that day, and none of those responsible have been arrested,” the letter said, adding that no security personnel have been held accountable for the murders of journalists since the popular uprising of January 2011.

The statement concluded with a call “to release these unjustly detained journalists and to stop persecuting them. Otherwise, Egypt’s prospects for the future will be very dim in the long term”.

A version of this article first appeared on Mada Masr