Egyptian security forces raid media NGO office

Armed Egyptian security forces raided an NGO that trains journalists in Cairo, arresting all those who were present within the office.

The raid, which took place on Wednesday, was carried out on the Mada Foundation for Media Development which provides capacity training to journalists in the 6^th of October city.

According to Amnesty International, Hisham Gaffar, the director of the NGO, was visited by plain-clothed police officers. Shortly afterwards, masked security forces stormed Mada’s office, and proceeded to take documents and equipment from the office, in addition to breaking the safety deposit box.

Security forces arrested everyone in the office, including security guards, cleaning personnel and a delivery man. Later on, all of the female staff were released, but at least 20 male staff members remain in custody.

Amnesty reported that the reason for the raid was unclear, and that security forces did not have a search or an arrest warrant from the prosecutor’s office, both of which are required by Egyptian law.

When Gaffar’s son arrived at the office, he was beaten and arrested by the security forces, who later took Gaffar to their family home and searched it.

Gaffar is a member of Egypt’s Press Syndicate. One of Mada Foundation’s projects was OnIslam.net, a website launched in 2011 that covers Muslim-related issues.

Various human rights organisations have condemned the climate of fear in which many journalists are subjected to under Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s government.

“Carrying out an armed raid against an NGO, which works to expand the skills of journalists, sends a chilling and clear message that independent journalism and activities of civil society will not be tolerated in today’s Egypt. This is an unlawful assault and has all the hallmarks of yet another attempt to clamp down on independent journalism in the country,” said Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme’s Said Boumedouha.

Egyptian forces arrest Brotherhood figure

On Thursday, Egyptian police said they arrested a senior figure and key financier of the Muslim Brotherhood movement of former president Mohamed Morsi.

Businessman Hassan Malek was detained at his home in a suburb of Cairo, police sources said.

"The prosecution issued an arrest warrant for him, as he is implicated in several judicial cases," an interior ministry source told AFP without elaborating.

In 2006, Malek was arrested under former president Hosni Mubarak.

Two years later a military tribunal sentenced him to prison, along with another businessman and Brotherhood number two, Khairat al-Shater, for financing a banned organisation.

While officially prohibited, the Brotherhood was somewhat tolerated under Mubarak and even ran candidates for office as independents.

Both men were freed in 2011 after the popular revolution that overthrew Mubarak.

In 2013, then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi toppled Mubarak's successor, Morsi, in a military coup, and totally proscribed the Brotherhood.

It also launched a crackdown on the group, in which several hundred protesters were killed. Thousands of people accused of being affiliated with the Brotherhood were arrested and hundreds of them were condemned to death in speedy mass trials.