Security authorities released three reporters who were arrested while covering the second phase of elections for the House of Representatives on Sunday, said a press freedom advocacy group.
Police arrested Al-Tahrir news website photographer Abdel Gawwad Mohamed and Masr Al-Arabia reporter Mostafa Saadawi as they were covering polls in Helwan, south of Cairo, according to the Journalists Against Torture group. They said police suspected them of being representatives of election candidates, but they were released two hours later, when the police was able to verify them as journalists.
Mostafa Diab, a third journalist, was also released after a two-hour detention by police in Ismailia. He was photographing the voting process.
“I communicated with some Interior Ministry and Armed Forces leaderships..the problem was resolved and they apologized to me before handing me back my equipment,” Diab told the group.
