CAIRO: The prosecution announced on Tuesday the renewal of the detention of El-Badeel journalist Youssef Shaaban for 15 days awaiting investigation in drug and knife possession charges. Opposition members and activists organized protests on Monday and Tuesday condemning Shaaban's detention. Human rights groups issued statements urging the government to release him. Shaaban was arrested last Friday on his way to a protest in the Abu Suleiman area of the coastal city of Alexandria and taken to the Montazah police station. Eyewitnesses allege that he was threatened and physically assaulted by police officer Khaled Shalaby in the microbus on the way to the police station. Friends of Shaaban, as well as his lawyer Ahmed Mamdouh, allege that the arrest and charges of drugs and knife possession leveled against the journalist are “payback” for a series of articles Shaaban wrote accusing the Alexandrian police of corruption and brutality. Shaaban was interrogated by the public prosecution office on Saturday without a lawyer. His detention was renewed for four days. Shaaban was due to appear before the public prosecution office on Monday but did not, and the El-Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of the Victims of Violence Torture said he was being held illegally. The rights group added in a statement issued Monday that no one — including Shaaban's father and lawyers — had seen the journalist since his arrest. Shaaban's father reportedly attempted to visit his son on Monday in the police station where it is believed he is being held but was refused permission to do so. El-Nadeem suggested that lawyers and relatives may be being denied permission to see Shaaban until the physical marks of torture or mistreatment he might have received while in detention disappear. On Tuesday, Shaaban's family and lawyer were finally able to see him on after the prosecution's decision to renew his detention. Mamdouh said that Shaaban was not physically abused as was feared but that he underwent emotional and mental abuse. Mamdouh quoted Shaaban as saying that he was denied food and that the other inmates were instructed to keep him from sleeping or resting. “Shaaban was not physically abused, but he is completely drained. He hasn't eaten in four days and, by not allowing him food, the prosecution is endangering his life,” said Mamdouh. Mamdouh said that the renewal of Shaaban's detention sends a message to all activists in Egypt. “The judiciary system is sending a message to all activists and honest journalists by this decision … that it will not protect them,” says Mamdouh. The New York-based Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) urged the Egyptian authorities to release Shaaban immediately. "The criminal charges against Youssef Shaaban appear to be a pretext to stop him from covering street protests or from writing critically about the authorities," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa Program coordinator, in a statement. "We call on the Egyptian authorities to release him immediately and drop these charges." Mamdouh told Daily News Egypt, “Leveling criminal drug-related charges against a journalist sets a dangerous precedent and is meant to intimidate journalists.” While the government has used such charges against the political opposition before, Mamdouh said, this is a “new and unusual tactic” to use against a journalist. Mohamed Abdel Aziz, a member of the Kefaya Movement for Change who attended Monday's protest, said that the government is resorting to the detention of activists and journalists on false charges after it was pressured to limit the use of the emergency law to fighting terrorism and drugs. “Instead of detaining activists under the emergency law, the state is now detaining them under false charges, and this is what will happen to anyone who speaks up against the government,” said Abdel Aziz. The National Association for Change filed a report to the public prosecutor and Alexandria's public attorney about “security breaches” in reaction to Shaaban's detention and recent police brutality cases. Protests condemning Shaaban's detention were attended by many opposition groups including HASHD, the April 6 Youth Movement, Kefaya, The National Association for Change, The Youths of Justice and Freedom, and The Free Front for Peaceful Change. Protestors shouted slogans such as “Youssef is one of us and we won't leave him” and “The detention of journalists is a shame.” Mohamed Abdel Quddous, head of the freedoms committee at the Journalists' Syndicate, attended Monday's protest and told Daily News Egypt that it's not only about Shaaban's case. “We are protesting the detention of hundreds of young Egyptians, especially in Alexandria,” Abdel Quddous said, “Shaaban is a symbol for all of them.” Shaaban's lawyer said he will file an appeal against the decision to renew his detention and will call for him to appear before a judge.
