BBC journalist Shaimaa Khalil was released after being held for 20 hours at an Egyptian military base and then on to a military prosecutor’s office. According to a BBC News Article from yesterday, it remains unclear whether or not she will “face further action by the authorities.” At this point also, no-one is quite sure of the “circumstances of her detention.” It followed on from when “soldiers, backed by riot police, moved to clear a three-week sit-in.”
At Tahrir Square (which was where Hosni was forced to step down 6 months ago) witnesses saw activists being beaten and getting their phones broken. Also, those taking photos were thereafter targeted. And it was not just Khalil who was arrested. Approximately 80 others were likewise detained.
Military Criticism
Today in Egypt, it is the military authorities running the show. This has been the case since the overthrowing of Mubarak. But the public is not happy with how they are doing things. Their “harassment of journalists” has been severely criticized despite the fact that before Monday, they hadn’t actually arrested any “accredited foreign reporter[s].”
It was the BBC that pushed for Khalil’s “immediate release,” adding: “she is a fine journalist, simply doing her job. We are doing all we can to secure her release.”