After suffering from illness, Haji Hussein Gomaa, father of journalist colleague Mahmoud Hussein, who has been detained by Egyptian authorities for nearly three years, died today under investigation.
The health of uncle Hussein, aged 74 years after the arrest of his eldest son Mahmoud journalist in the island about three years ago, especially with the repeated renewal of his remand in custody without release or referral to the courts on clear charges.
His father's morbidity has increased in recent months, with more than one stroke, after dramatic developments in Mahmoud's case, where the judiciary decided to release him after two years of pretrial detention and the prosecution appealed, but a second judge upheld the release, after the family thought that Mahmoud was on his way. To his home if the State Security Prosecution declares Mahmoud's imprisonment pending a new case.
While the first case talked about charges like broadcasting false news and joining a banned group, local media said the new case, dating back to 2018, was when Mahmoud was in prison! About broadcasting false news "from inside the prison."
Mahmoud's family appealed to the authorities to allow him to go out exceptionally to visit his sick father in vain.Today, he is demanding that he be allowed to go out tomorrow exceptionally to participate in his father's funeral, where sources close to the family said that the prosecution agreed, but the location of the police was not clear.
In September, Al-Jazeera Media Network organized a stand in solidarity with Al-Jazeera news producer Mahmoud Hussein on the occasion of the thousand days of his arrest by the Egyptian authorities. The participants demanded the release of Mahmoud and condemned what the Egyptian authorities are doing to him. Fellow journalists, they stressed that the press is not a crime.
Al-Jazeera's acting director general, Dr. Mustafa Sawwaq, described what Mahmoud was subjected to as an arbitrary detention that constituted unfair judicial follow-up. He asked: "How can we explain the return of colleague Mahmoud Hussein to the cell, which was cleared twice by the judiciary even after the appeal on the same charges he was arrested in The first time, a fabricated and void charges. "
"This is further evidence of abuse of power against journalists. The aim of this abuse is to intimidate journalists into silence."
Since the arrest of colleague Mahmoud Hussein on December 20, 2016, during a visit to his family in Egypt, campaigns of solidarity with his case and calls for his release have continued.
The Egyptian authorities have renewed his detention more than twenty times, exceeding the maximum period prescribed by Egyptian law for pre-trial detention, in a behavior that many human rights organizations described as malicious and retaliatory.
During that long period, Hussein Rahin remained in custody, subjected to serious violations and solitary confinement for several months, denied visits and medical follow-up.
Mahmoud Hussein was subjected to a blatant human rights violation when he was filmed in clips broadcast on pro-government satellite channels described as a terrorist, before being presented to the prosecution and then received successive decisions to renew his detention without resolving the order either to release him or transfer him to justice.