Journalist detained for 7 months released on bail

Talbeya police station implemented a South Giza court’s decision to release journalist Hosseiny Sobhy with a LE10,000 bail, on September 18, his lawyer said.

Sobhy works for the Horeyetna radio station. He spent seven months in Wadi Natrun prison, without trial. He faces charges of protest, illegal assembly, joining a terrorist group, assaulting a civil servant and attempting to kill a driver during a protest held by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi on February 21.

Sobhy told Mada Masr that he was covering the protest when a plain-clothed policeman stopped him and asked him for his ID. When the policeman saw that he was a journalist, he took him to central security officers.

“Verbal altercations took place with a policeman, so he asked for the soldiers to take me to Talbeya police station. I found myself charged with these accusations and they totally ignored the fact that I am a journalist, even though I gave them my press card,” Sobhy said.

According to Tamer Bazza, Sobhy’s lawyer, the prosecution used investigations by National Security that took place after Sobhy was arrested. The investigations documented Sobhy as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, hence his renewed detention for seven months without trial.

Bazza told Mada Masr that the investigations were conducted even though the driver that was assaulted during the protest testified that it wasn’t Sobhy who hit him.

Sobhy’s organization presented evidence to the prosecution of his journalistic work, but this was ignored, Samal Hosseiny, head of the Andalus Center which runs Radio Horeyetna said.

“We are awaiting the final decision in order to take legal measures to compensate Sobhy for the mental and physical harm he experienced during his seven months in prison,” Hosseiny said.

The South Giza court ordered the release of Sobhy on September 15, but Talbeya police station waited until September 18 to implement the order.

Sobhy is one of 16 journalists in Egyptian prisons accused of criminal charges, such as inciting violence and belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood. Many have not been referred to trial, including photojournalist Mahmoud Shawkan, who was arrested as he was covering the dispersal of the Rabea al-Adaweya pro-Muslim Brotherhood sit-in in August 2013.

Others include Al-Jazeera journalists Mohamed Fadel, Peter Greste and Baher Mohamed, sentenced to at least seven years in prison earlier this year.

Several local and international rights groups have criticized the Egyptian government's targeting of and lack of protection for journalists in what are increasingly hostile working conditions. There have been a number of journalist-led strikes in recent months over this lack of protection and the detention and death of colleagues working in the field.