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Lawyer of Egyptian activist Hossam Bahgat says prosecution has promised to release him on Monday Investigative reporter and human rights activist Bahgat is charged with 'publishing false information'
Egyptian Millitary Prosecution has promised to release investigative reporter, human rights activist, and Mada Masr contributor Hossam Bahgat on Monday, Nasser Amin, one of the lawyers present at Bahgat's interrogation, told Ahram Online on Monday morning. Bahgat was referred to Egypt's military prosecution on Sunday on charges of publishing false and inaccurate information that harms national security. The renowned human rights activist and investigative reporter was interrogated by Egyptian Military Intelligence after being summoned, according to Mada Masr. One of several lawyers attending the interrogations said the prosecution has promised to release Bahgat on Monday morning. "We are waiting for him to be released. That's what the prosecution had promised us," lawyer Nasser Amin told Ahram Online on Monday. Lina Attalah, Mada Masr's founder and editor-in-chief, told Ahram Online that they were still waiting for a decision by the prosecution. Prosecutors will either release Bahgat or officially charge him and send him to a military trial. According to Attalah, Bahgat said in a phone call on Sunday that he had been charged, moved to military prosecution, and was awaiting interrogations. According to a statement released by Amnesty International on Sunday, “The arrest [of Bahgat]… is a clear signal of the Egyptian authorities' resolve to continue with their ferocious onslaught against independent journalism and civil society.” The investigative journalist became a contributor for Mada Masr in 2014, writing prominent stories like The Arab Sharkas Cell: The quasi-covert trial of Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, The Mubarak Mansions, and Who Let the Jihadis Out? Bahgat founded the human rights organisation the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) in 2002 and remained its executive director until 2013. In August 2011, Human Rights Watch (HRW) honoured Hossam Bahgat “for upholding the personal freedoms of all Egyptians," on the occasion of his winning HRW'S Alison Des Forges Award. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/164086.aspx