Cartoonist Islam Gawish, who was arrested on Sunday allegedly for running an unlicensed website, was released on Monday by authorities, according to Al-Masry Al-Youm.
Daily independent Al-Watan quoted East Cairo Prosecution Attorney Mohamed Abdel Shafie as saying that no charges were filed against Gawish, and that he was wrongly arrested and it was the administrator of the website who was the intended target of the arrest.
Gawish's cartoons are known for being politically and socially critical, at times portraying President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Many of his fans believed that Gawish's arrest was not because of his role on the website but because of his political cartoons.
In recent weeks, surrounding the fifth anniversary of the January 25 Revolution, several activists have been arrested and many apartments in the downtown area searched, moves that have been viewed as the government's attempt to crackdown on any potential protests surrounding the anniversary.
