The government has once again detained an Al-Jazeera journalist, reports Mohamed El-Sayed Tussles between Al-Jazeera satellite channel and the government have become a common occurrence, with Saturday's brief detention of Howaida Taha, a producer with the Doha-based pan-Arab TV station, on charges of "practising activities harmful to Egypt's national interests", according to an Interior Ministry statement, marked a new low. Taha was also accused of "possessing and transferring fabricated footage defaming the country," the statement said. Taha arrived in the country from Doha to shoot an episode about torture in Egyptian police stations. Interest in the subject had been aroused by the widespread Internet dissemination of videos shot on mobile phones showing Egyptians being tortured and sexually assaulted by police officers. Before shooting the film, Taha received permission from the Ministry of Interior, according to Al-Jazeera's Cairo Bureau Chief Hussein Abdel-Ghani. After shooting, Taha headed to Cairo Airport on her way back to Doha, where airport police prevented her from boarding the plane and confiscated the 50 video tapes, laptop and books that were in her luggage. Officers promised they would return the tapes within a couple of days. Then, on Saturday, the State Security Prosecution ordered her detention. After viewing the video tapes, a committee affiliated to the Ministry of Interior said they included "unedited scenes of fabricated incidents of torture and assaults by individuals wearing police uniforms on others playing roles of male and female suspects in studios decorated to look like police stations". During interrogation, Taha said the footage was a reconstruction to be used in her film, saying "reconstructing scenes with actors is a well-known technique in the production of documentaries". She also told investigators she had obtained a licence from the State Information Service (SIS) to take the tapes to Doha. The State Security Prosecution released her on bail on Sunday. Taha described the incident as "a theft, for they took all my belongings". And despite the fact that a copy of the tapes has been sent to the headquarters of the station in Doha, Taha is determined to fight her corner. "I will file a suit against the authorities, because I got permission from the authorities before shooting, and I don't know why they treated me this way," she told Al-Ahram Weekly. A number of human rights groups denounced the detention, describing it as an attempt to intimidate anti-torture campaigners into silence. "[The detention of Taha] is a continuation of the pressures placed on journalists who do their jobs properly," said a joint statement issued by several human rights groups. "Howaida Taha and other journalists aim to expose human rights violations in the country. To consider this activity a threat to national security aims to distort the truth and is an attempt to secure the immunity enjoyed by torturers." "What really undermines national security," the statement continued, "are those people who want to silence journalists by frightening them. What really poses a threat to the security of citizens and defames the country is the continuation of torture and preventing torturers from being brought to justice." In May 2005, police briefly detained eight Al-Jazeera employees for attempting to broadcast a meeting at the Cairo Judges' Club. In November 2005, Ahmed Mansour, host of a popular Al-Jazeera talk show, was physically assaulted by two men, widely believed to have been hired by a government official, in front of his Cairo office just as he was about to begin interviewing an opposition figure. Following the terrorist bombings in Dahab last year, Abdel-Ghani was himself detained briefly for allegedly broadcasting inaccurate news. The plainclothes security officers hovering around the entrance of the channel's downtown Cairo offices have become a fixture of the street. Abdel-Ghani was not unduly alarmed by the detention of Taha. "We are not seeking a clash with the government or its security bodies. Al-Jazeera provides a platform for all voices, whether government or opposition," he told the Weekly. "I think Arab governments in general have yet to become accustomed to independent journalism but eventually they will be forced to adapt themselves to this fact. It's an irreversible step."
