Abdul Rahman Mohammed - Al Jazeera Net
Egyptian human rights sources reported that the State Security Prosecution decided to release 21 defendants in connection with the case known in the media as "Supplement 2" - including 4 journalists - after nearly two years of pre-trial detention for a number of them.
According to the decision, the journalists Ahmed Abu Zaid Al-Tounoubi and Ahmed Bayoumi are expected to be released, and the precautionary measures against journalists Hossam Al-Swaify and Ahmed Abdel-Aziz will be removed.
Egyptian security forces arrested Al-Swaify and Abdel Aziz on December 7, 2017 during a protest against the ladder of the Press Syndicate in central Cairo organized by opponents, in opposition to US President Donald Trump's decision to consider Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and transfer the Washington embassy to it.
Abdulaziz and Al-Swaify have been active in defending the cases of journalists and freedoms, especially those of detained journalists.
The security forces arrested the journalist Ahmed Bayoumi on the 20th of the same month from his home in the city of Giza, and after days of enforced disappearance, he appeared in the Supreme State Security Prosecution, pending the case of "Supplement 2", on charges of spreading false news aimed at undermining confidence in the state, and joining Banned group established contrary to law.
As for Abu Zaid, who worked as a journalist and researcher at the Arab Observatory for Media Freedom, he was arrested (for the second time) on December 22, 2017, from his home in Giza, and forcibly disappeared for several days, before appearing in the State Security Prosecutor accused in the same case.
Refrigerator case
Case No. 977 of 2017 known to the media as “complementary 2” in human rights circles was known as “the refrigerator,” as a sign of the Egyptian authorities placing a lot of media professionals arrested in it on charges of communicating with the opposition channel “Complement” broadcasting from Turkey.
Last Saturday, Reporters Without Borders condemned the continuation of the crackdown on journalists, which it considered the fiercest in Egypt since President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi assumed power after the coup against the late President Mohamed Morsi in the summer of 2013.
The organization has documented the detention of at least 22 journalists since the protest movement against al-Sisi began last September, with only eight of those released.
It is noteworthy that Egypt is ranked 163 (out of 180 countries) on the world press freedom ranking published by Reporters Without Borders earlier this year.