A freelance Egyptian journalist who worked for pan-Arab news channel Al Jazeera and was arrested on false news and terrorism charges is being denied medication in custody, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. Aamer Abdelmonem is among at least 27 journalists the CPJ says have been imprisoned in Egypt in relation to their work, several of them for Qatar-based Al Jazeera. Egypt labels the channel as a mouthpiece for the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, a charge Qatar denies. “Egyptian journalist Aamer Abdelmonem is already in failing health, and to detain him during a global pandemic blatantly endangers his life,” CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa programme coordinator, Sherif Mansour, said in a statement dated Monday. In his recent articles on Al Jazeera’s website, Abdelmonem criticised the Egyptian government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Source: The North Africa Journal January 05, 2021 13:41 UTC