15 days in prison for journalist Basma Mostafa

The Egyptian prosecutor issued the decision to imprison Basma Mustafa for 15 days pending investigation, after he was detained while covering the protests in the village of Awamiya, near the city of Luxor (640 km south of Cairo), after the news of the murder of a citizen by the police, as confirmed by his workplace and his lawyer on Monday. Mustafa, who works for local news website Al-Minassa, appeared before the prosecution on Sunday, the day after he disappeared during coverage. The “Al-Minassa” website wrote that the prosecution decided to imprison Mustafa “for 15 days pending an investigation, one day after his disappearance in Luxor, to which he traveled to work on field coverage of the repercussions of the attack. murder of a citizen by the police in Awamiya village. “

As for his lawyer, Hala Douma, he wrote on his Facebook page: “My colleague Karim Abdel Radi and I have just finished attending the investigation at the Supreme State Security Prosecutor’s Office with journalist Basma Mustafa, and the prosecution decided imprison her for 15 days pending investigations (…) for joining a terrorist group and publishing news. liar”.
Last September, dozens of people organized small anti-government demonstrations in some Egyptian villages, which had been called by the Egyptian opposition contractor who lives in Europe, Muhammad Ali. The demonstrations coincided with the growing anger of some people in rural areas of the Nile Delta and Upper Egypt against extensive government campaigns against illegal construction, which forced people to pay fines to legalize home ownership.
In a related context, Amnesty International appealed last Friday to the Egyptian authorities to release hundreds of protesters who were detained during these protests.