CAIRO — The Egyptian government has intensified its crackdown against members of the news media in recent weeks, arresting one prominent journalist and preparing to bring another to trial, as the number of reporters detained in Egypt has hit its highest level in decades, according to human rights campaigners and press freedom groups.

Although three Al Jazeera journalists — whose imprisonment and trial had attracted international opprobrium — were released earlier this year, the number of journalists in detention had doubled since 2015, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

“It’s the largest number of detentions since we started documenting arrests in Egypt in 1991,” said Sherif Mansour, the committee’s coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa. “The situation had been going from bad to worse.”

The Al Jazeera journalists were eventually freed this year, leading to hopes that the government might relax its prosecution of journalists. In September, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said Egypt enjoyed “unprecedented” freedom of expression, but the situation does not appear to have changed.