Masr al-Arabia journalists say raid on its offices prompted by decision to run New York Times piece on alleged election irregularities

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Egyptian police have raided the office of a news website and arrested its editor-in-chief as part of a wider crack down on media that reported allegations of vote buying during last month’s presidential election.

The raid late on Tuesday came two days after the supreme council for media regulation, an official oversight body, told the Masr al-Arabia website to pay 50,000 Egyptian pounds ($2,849) as a fine for republishing a New York Times article on alleged irregularities during the presidential election. The website is one of over 500to have been blocked within Egypt since May 2017.

Two journalists at the website quoted the site’s lawyers as saying that police said they had acted because the website did not have a permit to operate. The journalists said the raid was prompted by the republishing of the New York Times article.

A statement from the council, which was based on a complaint from the national election authority, on Sunday had accused the website of publishing false news.

“The website should have checked the authenticity of the news or commented on it with an opinion,” the council statement said, referring to the New York Times article, which said some voters were offered payments and other inducements to vote.



The New York Times defended its reporting. “We stand by the accuracy of our reporting and strongly condemn any arrests meant to intimidate journalists and stifle freedom of the press,” Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokeswoman said.

Adel Sabry, the website’s editor-in-chief, was arrested and was still being held at Dokki police station in greater Cairo on Wednesday.

A security source at the police station said Sabry was being held prior to appearing before a prosecutor. Sabry is accused of running a news website without a permit, the source added.

The office of the website was closed and sealed with red wax, the three journalists said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Abdel Fatah al-Sisi won the Egyptian presidential election with 97% of the vote. Photograph: Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images

The Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, swept to a second term with 97% of the vote. His win came after five opposition candidates were prevented from getting on the ballot.

The editor-in-chief of private newspaper Al Masry Al Youm was recently fined 150,000 Egyptian pounds and forced to apologise for the headline of an article published on its front page detailing official offers of financial incentives to voters, and threats of fines for those who did not get to the ballot box.

Sisi wins landslide victory in Egypt election Read more

Some voters have said they were offered incentives to cast their ballots, including money and food, local and international media reported, without saying who had made the offers. Officials said that if any such incidents took place they were not state sponsored and had been extremely limited.

Authorities say curbing fictitious news is necessary for national security.



Officials at the state information service previously declared they would summon international journalists who published election coverage “written in a non-professional manner”.



Sherif Mansour, of the Committee to Protect Journalists, described continued efforts to crack down on the press as “a witch-hunt”.

“The authorities have also continued to blur the red lines journalists have known for years under Sisi,” he said.

“This doesn’t bode well for the post-election era, as many thought those censorship measures were enacted temporarily to secure Sisi’s second term. But it seems like they’re here to stay and more are coming.”

