The Sadat Public Prosecution in Menoufia Governorate, in the Egyptian Delta, has ordered the detention of the journalist Ahmed El-Bahi, a news reporter at the Masrawy website in Menoufia, for four days pending investigation after being charged of “inciting violence”.
The decision came a few hours after his arrest over covering local events in one of the governorate’s villages.
A member of the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate, Mahmoud Kamel, affirmed that Al-Bahi was detained after covering local events on Abu Nashaba Island, in Menoufia Governorate, after the killing of a local young man in the village.
Al-Bahi headed to the scene before being asked by Egyptian security forces to stop filming the events. He left the area along with dozens of people after being promised that an investigation will be opened into the local man’s killing.
Local residents headed to the killer’s house and started violently knocking the doors and walls till a wall fell on a group of women standing outside. A woman died, while four others suffered different injuries during the events.
Footage of the wall fall and the recent event were sent to Al-Bahi. However, he did not post them.
Al-Bahi was later surprised that security forces arrested him at 6 am and transferred to the Sadat Police Department, where he was charged of inciting violence.
Al-Bahi’s arrest brought the total number of Egyptian journalists held in jail to 70.
Egypt ranked 166 out of 180 countries in the 2020 and 2021 World Press Freedom Index, three points down compared to the 2019 report.
