Cairo: Egyptian security forces confiscated copies of a human rights group's newsletter, and arrested a worker in the print shop, saying the publication threatened the government, the head of the group said today.
Gamal Eid, the head of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, said police seized 1,000 copies of the publication, entitled Wasla, or Link, from the print shop the night before. Lawyers said investigators accused the worker in the press of illegally printing material that advocates the overthrow of the government and of belonging to a terrorist group, in reference to the Muslim Brotherhood, said Rawda Ahmed, a lawyer for the group. The government declared the Brotherhood a terrorist organisation last year and has cracked down on its members and activities.
It was not clear if ANHRI itself or the content of the newsletter was the source of the accusations, Ahmed said.
In a statement, the group said the worker is not responsible for the published material, and denied it was "seditious." The worker will continue to be held pending further investigation from the national security agency, and Eid has been called in for questioning tomorrow, Ahmed said.
ANHRI is an Egyptian human rights and legal center focusing on freedom of expression and Internet freedom in the region.
The newsletter is a digest of blogs and social media content that has been distributed to select readers by mail since 2010. The current issue focused on newly elected President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, with activists discussing the
sources of his popularity. One of the contributors argued in favor of el-Sissi's left-wing opponent in the elections, while another supported el-Sissi's election, saying he would keep Egypt a secular state. The issue also included an article on journalist who works for Qatar-based broadcaster al-Jazeera who has been in detention since last year, without formal charges and on hunger strike for over 100 days in protest.
Security officials were not immediately available for comment.
Eid called the accusations "ludicrous," and were a violation of the law and unconstitutional. He said the confiscation gave an ominous sign for freedom of expression under the new president, just a week into his term.
Egypt's newly amended constitution states that censorship or confiscation of publications is prohibited, permitting "limited censorship in times of war or general mobilisation."
Since last year's overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, the government has shuttered the Brotherhood's daily newspaper and closed a number of Islamist TV stations.
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