Thursday, February 3, 2011

Egypt cracks down on foreign journalists

Members of international media and human rights groups arrested, attacked and beaten in intimidation campaign

Harriet Sherwood in Alexandria, Sam Jones and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 3 February 2011

"Dozens of foreign journalists were arrested, attacked and beaten today as the Egyptian government and its supporters embarked on what the US state department called a "concerted campaign to intimidate" the international media.

A number of human rights workers also fell victim to crowd violence, while police raided the offices of two groups in Cairo – the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre and the Centre for Economic and Social Rights – and arrested observers. Amnesty International said one of its staff was detained at the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre with a colleague from Human Rights Watch.

The Egyptian interior ministry arrested more than 20 foreign journalists in Cairo – including the Washington Post's bureau chief and a photographer – while al-Jazeera said three of its journalists had been detained......"

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