New York, April 18, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the arrest in Cairo of a blogger who has exposed torture in Egyptian police stations and prisons. Authorities detained Abdel Moneim Mahmoud on Sunday on charges that he belongs to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and that he defamed the government with his reporting.

State security officers arrested Mahmoud, 27, who is also correspondent for the London-based Arabic-language Al-Hiwar TV channel, as he was flying out of Cairo International Airport at 1 a.m., his lawyer, Islam Lutfi, told CPJ today. Mahmoud was traveling on assignment for Al-Hiwar TV.

At the direction of the attorney general, a local prosecutor ordered Mahmoud detained for 15 days pending an investigation into the Muslim Brotherhood charge, Lutfi added.

“We are outraged by the detention of Abdel Moneim Mahmoud and call for his immediate release,” Executive Director Joel Simon said. “It is clear to us that his detention is an attempt to silence his critical reporting on torture and human rights and to quash a dissident opinion.”

Mahmoud was transferred to Mahkoum prison in Tora, southeast of Cairo, where he is being held among convicted criminals in atrocious conditions, Lutfi told CPJ.
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