Egypt journalist freed after arrest over report alleging officials’ involvement in smuggling case: Reports

Egyptian authorities freed the local journalist Karim Asaad, arrested after he published a story on his fact-checking service about the alleged involvement of the country’s officials in smuggling cash, weapons and “suspected gold” to Zambia, said the publication, on Sunday (August 20). 

What do we know about the arrest?

Egypt’s national press union leader Khaled Elbalshy, after Asaad’s arrest, took to Facebook and said that he had “contacted the authorities” and that Asaad “is doing okay” and “will return home in the coming hours”. 

In an update, Elbalshy said, “Karim Asaad is out and on his way home.” This was also confirmed by his fact-checking service Matsada2sh, late Sunday. 

According to a previous statement by the independent website Matsada2sh, Asaad was apprehended at his residence in Greater Cairo on Saturday at around 1:00 am (local time) after questioning over his coverage of a case allegedly involving five Egyptian officials.

“Our colleague…was arrested after security forces dressed in civilian clothes stormed his home,” said the statement by Matsada2sh. It added, “They physically assaulted his wife, threatened their young child, raided the apartment, and then led him away, forcefully disappeared, to an undisclosed location.”

Prior to his arrest, Matsada2sh said that “the only questions the assailants asked our colleague were related to our breaking coverage of the Zambia-Egypt plane story.” 

The forces also demanded Asaad access Matsada2sh news agency’s accounts and delete two articles related to the identity of the Egyptian officials on board the plane which has since been seized in Zambia, said the fact-checking service. 

However, there was no immediate official confirmation of the situation, according to AFP.

“So far, the only reaction from the government was to arrest…one of the only sources of information on this topic,” said activist Lobna Darwish of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, on social media, earlier. 

What was the story about?

On Tuesday, Zambia’s Drug Enforcement Commission announced the seizure of “a chartered aircraft carrying dangerous goods” at Lusaka airport. According to the Zambian officials, the plane was carrying nearly $5.7 million in cash; pistols and ammunition; and 127 kilograms of “suspected gold”. 

10 suspects have been arrested in relation to the case, nine of them were foreigners, said the Zambian authorities, in a statement. 

Independent Egyptian journalists published the documents purportedly from the Zambian probe, over social media, that name the Egyptian suspects including army and police officers. However, the Egyptian state media has claimed that the plane in question was privately owned and that it only transited through Cairo.

According to Egypt’s national press union, at least 23 journalists are currently behind bars.

The World Press Freedom Index by media watchdog Reporters Without Borders ranks Egypt 166th out of 180 countries. 

Matsda2sh, founded in London in 2018 by the late Egyptian journalist Mohamed Aboul Gheit, also said that since the arrest their website, staff, and social media pages have been “subjected to a coordinated attack”. 

“We hold the Egyptian government responsible for the safety and well-being of our team,” said Matsda2sh, in an earlier statement. 

(With inputs from agencies) 

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