2015 prison census - Egypt: Samhi Mustafa, Abdullah al-Fakharny, Mohamed al-Adly

Samhi Mustafa, Rassd
Medium:Internet
Charge:Anti-state
Imprisoned:August 25, 2013
Abdullah al-Fakharny, Rassd
Medium:Internet
Charge:Anti-state
Imprisoned:August 25, 2013
Mohamed al-Adly, Amgad TV
Medium:Television
Charge:Anti-state
Imprisoned:August 25, 2013

Mustafa, co-founder of the news website Rassd, Rassd Executive Director Abdullah al-Fakharny, and Amgad TV presenter Mohamed al-Adly were arrested on August 25, 2013, in the home of the son of a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood.

In February 2014, the three were charged with "spreading chaos" and "forming an operations room to direct the Muslim Brotherhood to defy the government" during the dispersal of the sit-in at Rabaa Al-Adawiya in Cairo, where Egyptians had gathered to protest the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi. The dispersal left hundreds dead, according to news reports. The Egyptian government has declared the Muslim Brotherhood to be a terrorist organization.

The prosecutor-general accused the Muslim Brotherhood of using several media outlets, including Rassd and Amgad TV, to support its plot to take over the government and spread lies about the military and the government.

Ahmed Helmy, Mustafa's lawyer, denied all of the charges against the journalists.

A Cairo criminal court sentenced all three journalists to life in prison on April 11, 2015. They had been tried along with dozens of other defendants including prominent leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. Life sentences in Egypt are 25 years long, and can be appealed, according to newsreports.

The Egyptian Court of Cassation accepted the request for an appeal on December 3, 2015, according to news reports. The date of a retrial had not been announced in late 2015.

The three journalists were being held in Tora prison, southeast of Cairo. In a letter from prison that was publicized on May 3, 2015, World Press Freedom Day, al-Fakharny described being beaten and abused in custody.

This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.