Abdel Rahman Shaheen, Freedom and Justice Gate
Medium:Internet
Charge:Retaliatory
Imprisoned:April 9, 2014

Shaheen, a correspondent for Freedom and Justice Gate, was arrested on the street in Suez City, according to news reports. Freedom and Justice Gate is a news website affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, which the Egyptian government has declared a terrorist organization.

In June 2014, a Suez court sentenced Shaheen to three years in prison and 10,000 Egyptian pounds (US$1,400) on charges of inciting and committing violence during protests. His appeal was denied on December 25, 2014, according to his employer, and again on October 7, 2015, according to the local press freedom group Journalists Against Torture Observatory.

Freedom and Justice Gate condemned the arrest and denied the allegations against Shaheen in a statement issued shortly after the journalist's arrest. Shaheen's wife said the court did not allow his defense lawyer to present his case and did not inform them of the verdict, news reports said.

In February 2015, another Suez court sentenced Shaheen to an additional three years on charges of aiding terrorism and broadcasting false news, according to the Journalists Against Torture Observatory. The journalist's wife told the group on May 24, 2015, that their lawyer had appealed the second verdict, but that the court had not yet reviewed the request for appeal.

Shaheen has also faced separate trial in a military court since February 2015 on multiple charges of murder on August 14 and 16, 2013, according to news reports. On August 14, 2013, security forces violently dispersed a sit-in of supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi at the Rabaa Al-Adawiya mosque in Cairo. Hundreds died in the dispersal, triggering violence and unrest throughout the country, in which dozens more people were killed.

His wife told press freedom groups that despite being in prison since the military trial began, he was not transferred from prison to court to attend any hearings in this trial and was therefore listed in the military court's documents as "a fugitive from the law."

In a letter written by Shaheen in prison and published by his outlet in August 2015, the journalist said he believed he was being targeted due to his former affiliation with the Al-Jazeera network, which was banned in Egypt after the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood from power. In his letter, Shaheen also denied all the charges against him. Al-Jazeera confirmed to CPJ in October 2015 that Shaheen had been working for the network up until his arrest, but that he and his family requested that the outlet not campaign for his release for fear that it could harm his chances of release.

Shaheen has recently been transferred from Zaqaziq prison to Gamasa prison, his wife told press freedom groups in October.

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