Egypt: Journalist Adel Sabry released from jail

Journalist Adel Sabry has been released from jail after more than two years in pre-trial detention.

Sabry, who is editor-in-chief of Masr Al-Arabia and a journalist and member of the Egyptian Press Syndicate, returned home after Egypt’s state security prosecution ordered his release.

Adel Sabry was arrested in April 2018 for allegedly operating a news website without a licence and joining the now outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

He was also accused of publishing fake news as part of an array of charges regularly levelled against political prisoners.

On 3 April 2018, a group of security officers from the Egyptian Ministry of Interior raided the headquarters of Masr Al-Arabia in Giza and detained him.

The website publishes articles on human rights and democracy and Egyptian and international human rights NGOs.

READ: Detainee dies at Egypt police station after suffering covid-type symptoms

Egypt is currently 166 out of 180 countries on the Reporters Without Borders 2020 Press Freedom Index. The CPJ has named Egypt the third worst jailer of journalists worldwide.

Sabry’s release comes not long after the detainee Ahmed Abdel-Azim Al-Dumliji reappeared at Menoufia Prosecution, after being forcibly disappeared for over three years.

Al-Dumliji was forcibly disappeared on 25 April 2017. His family were repeatedly denied information on his whereabouts.

Al-Dumliji is the first detainee to resurface after such a long period of time of forcible disappearance.

His reappearance has renewed questions about the fate of parliamentarian Mustafa Al-Najjar, who disappeared over two years ago after he wrote an article about the January revolution.

Adel’s release also follows news of the death of detainee Khaled Taha who died at the Haram Police station on 22 July as a result of a stroke and pneumonia after displaying typical covid-type symptoms.

His release was ordered on 8 July and he had paid his bail, but the release order was never honoured.

Last week Human Rights Watch (HRW) documented that at least 14 detainees had died of suspected coronavirus in Egypt across ten facilities since mid-July.