The Egyptian authorities continue to detain writer and broadcaster Ahmed Serag for the fourth consecutive day, amid ongoing violations against Egyptian journalists and restriction of their professional freedoms.
Serag is in pretrial detention pending investigations in Case No. 7 of 2025, Supreme State Security, where he is accused of joining a terrorist group, publishing false news, using websites to promote terrorist ideas, and committing a financing crime, all of which are charges that the Egyptian regime often directs at its critics to silence them.
Ahmed Serag was arrested while on his way to work at a school, days after he conducted a video interview with translator Nada Moghit about the arrest of her husband, the imprisoned cartoonist Ashraf Omar. Although the Public Prosecution released Nada Moghit on bail of five thousand Egyptian pounds, it decided to detain Serag for 15 days pending investigations.
The arrest of Serag comes within a broader context of restrictions on freedom of the press and expression in Egypt, where the number of journalists imprisoned for carrying out their professional duties is increasing.
The Egyptian Journalists Syndicate condemned Serag’s arrest, stressing that conducting a journalistic interview does not constitute a crime.
The head of the Journalists Syndicate, Khaled Al-Balshy, stressed that Serag’s continued imprisonment represents a clear violation of freedom of the press and the right of journalists to deliver the truth, noting that targeting journalists who shed light on the suffering of the families of detainees constitutes a dangerous response to the government’s promises to review the conditions of detainees.
He added that Serag’s interview with Nada Moghit comes within the framework of the right of the families of detainees to defend their loved ones, and that conveying this suffering through the media should be legally protected, and should not lead to prosecution.
In an attempt to pressure for Serag’s release, the head of the Journalists Syndicate submitted a report to the Public Prosecutor and a letter to the relevant authorities, demanding his release along with more than 24 journalists held in pretrial detention. The statement included a list of journalists whose pretrial detention periods exceeded two years, in addition to others who have been sentenced to prison by the courts.
The continued detention of Ahmed Serag is a real test of the Egyptian authorities’ commitment to their promises to improve human rights and press freedom. The increasing local and international condemnations brings hope in taking effective measures to end these violations and guarantee the rights of journalists to do their work without fear or restrictions.
