NGO Says Journalists From Egyptian Fact-Checking Platform Allege Torture After Arrest
The detained journalists made up the entire newsroom of Matsadaash, an independent media platform known for fact-checking and investigative reporting.
Recommended For YouEgypt has long faced criticism from press freedom organisations over restrictions on media activity.
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Lawyers for the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), which is defending the journalists, said most of them testified before the Supreme State Security Prosecution that they were subjected to "various forms of torture and mistreatment."
The SSSP is a special branch of the public prosecution in charge of overseeing the prosecution of crimes linked to the state's security.
"The journalists described being bound with their hands behind their backs and blindfolded while being held and interrogated at National Security facilities," EIPR said in a statement.
"They also reported beatings, forced stripping, electric shocks and threats to harm them or their families."
They also alleged that officers "forced them to record fabricated 'confessions'" that could be used to convict them, according to the statement.
The journalists' location wasn't disclosed for five days until their interrogation began on Sunday.
Only one journalist, Mohamed Ashraf Abu Omeira, has been detained for 15 days pending investigation, facing charges of "joining a 'terrorist' group, spreading false news, and using a social media platform for that purpose", said EIPR.
The other journalists' investigations remain ongoing.
Egyptian authorities have defended the arrests, accusing the journalists of belonging to a platform linked to the banned Muslim Brotherhood and of "publishing false news".
Matsadaash, whose name means "Don't Believe It" in Arabic, rejected the allegations. Dozens of Egyptian journalists staged a sit-in in Cairo on Saturday, calling for their release.
According to EIPR, the latest arrests bring the number of journalists in Egypt detained in connection with their work to 26.
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