Egyptian journalist detained after revealing damning Sinai findings

The fate of a prominent Egyptian investigative journalist who was detained last week will be decided by the Egyptian general prosecutor on Thursday.

Ismail Iskandarani was arrested on 29 November at Hurghada Airport upon his return to Egypt after completing a six-month fellowship at the US Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. 

Upon his arrest, Iskandarani was interrogated for two days and prosecutors accused him of belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and “disseminating false news,” a charge the Egyptian government has used before to silence critical journalists. 

The 32-year old specialises in Sinai issues and is also a researcher with the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights and an affiliate with the Paris-based Arab Reform Initiative.

He collaborated with several European and US think tanks prior to his arrest. 

Iskandarani is being detained at the high security Tora prison, where thousands of Egyptian political prisoners are held.

His wife Khadeega Gaafar declared over Twitter that Egyptian prosecutors have prevented her from seeing him on several occasions since his arrest.  

She also said it was unclear how long her husband may remain in prison.

A Brotherhood critic

Despite accusations that Iskandarani was a member of the Brotherhood, his family, friends and colleagues confirm he was in fact a sharp critic of the outlawed movement.

They believe these accusation have been fabricated and that his research and reporting on military operations in the Sinai are the reason behind his arrest.

“Ismail’s work on the militant groups in Sinai and the military operations - there was exceptional,” said his friend Abdelrahman Ayyash, editor at the Arabic news website Noon Post.

“He provided accurate and rare information about the reality of the situation on the ground the demography of that area.”

Iskandarani’s detention has been likened to that of Egyptian journalist Hossam Bahgat who was also detained in November after publishing an investigative piece on the detention of 26 military officers over accusations of planning a coup.

“Hossam published information about the Egyptian military that the army did not want publicised. Ismail did the same,” Ayyash told Middle East Eye. “But unlike Hossam, he does not have the international backing to pressure the government into letting him go.”

Bahgat was released after three days of interrogation following statements from Western NGOs and governments, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, expressing their concerns over his detention.

Report highlights army weaknesses

His last report published on 14 November, Iskandarani revealed that Islamic State affiliates had penetrated the ranks of the Egyptian army and carried out an operation in the delta Dumyat province to compromise its control over navy ships.

Ayyash said this report uncovered the Egyptian army’s security pitfalls and could have been a major reason behind Iskandarani’s detention.  

A paper he published last year titled “The War in Sinai: A battle against terrorism or cultivating terrorism for the future?” reflected his critical opinion of the military and its operations in Sinai.

“If the deracination of terrorism requires human development that is concerned with the dignity of life, social cohesion, education, healthcare and a moderate religious orientation, then the reality of the central military and governmental regime’s policies is going in completely the opposite direction,” Iskandarani wrote.

“The barbaric behaviour, close to that of armed mercenaries, that the inhabitants of the border areas of Sinai have suffered . . . is completely destroying the possibility of establishing a respectful relationship between the citizens in Sinai and the state.”

Iskandarani presented these views in October at a Berlin conference on Islamic terrorism, organised by the German Council on Foreign Relations, where he delivered two presentations.

Fear of government backlash

According to Ayyash, who had also participated at the conference, the Egyptian Embassy tried to prevent Egyptian participants from taking part, leaving some of them fearful that they would be facing criminal charges.

Several participants contacted head of the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate, Diaa Rashwan, who assured them they would be safe. Three eventually dropped out for fear of being arrested upon their return.

Ayyash believes the Egyptian Embassy in Berlin has played a major role in Iskandarani’s detention.

According to Iskandarani's wife Gaafar, he may have been detained because the conference included members of the Brotherhood.

"Some members of the Muslim Brotherhood attended [the Berlin conference], but Ismail is critical of the Muslim Brotherhood," she told Al Jazeera.

"They [Egyptian authorities] are just very sensitive ... if you are in the same place as people from the Muslim Brotherhood, then this is a problem for them."

"The security services know... he is anti-Muslim Brotherhood. He's criticised them [the Muslim Brotherhood] on social media," she added. 

Growing trend

Iskandarani’s detention is part of a growing clampdown against journalists critical of the Egyptian government.

Over the past two years, several journalists have been arrested and accused of false reporting or supporting to the Brotherhood.

The most internationally prominent of those cases was the detention of three Al Jazeera journalists - Australian Peter Greste, Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohamed - who were released after about 18 months in Egyptian prisons. 

The Al Jazeera case came to symbolise Egypt’s severe crackdown on free speech and the extent to which the government has restricted media workers' operation. 

Egypt’s Journalists Syndicate launched a campaign earlier this month to demand the release of journalists, saying more than 32 journalists are currently in detention, reported the Egypt Independent.

The campaign is also working on improving conditions inside prisons for detainees.  

The syndicate alleges that some of those journalists were arrested while on duty and that the authorities had fabricated charges against them, reported the paper.

Several human rights organisations including Human Rights Watch have condemned Iskandarani's detention and called on the Egyptian authorities to release him.