More journalists held in Libya; blogger jailed in Egypt

In Libya, cameramen Magdi Hilali and Mohamad al-Shuwayhadi of the privately-owned Middle East Broadcasting (MBC) were being held yesterday after being seized on April 6 in the north-central city of Brega, MBC news director Ahmad Gurashi told CPJ in an email. A third MBC journalist, reporter Hassan Zaituni, was also detained but was released on Friday, MBC said. The MBC crew's driver, a Libyan identified only as Yahya, was detained at the same time but was separated from the three journalists. His condition and whereabouts were unknown as of yesterday.

One journalist detained in Libya, Al-Jazeera correspondent Ahmed Vall Ould Addin, was released yesterday, the Qatar-based news station reported. Two other Al-Jazeera journalists, Kamel Atalua and Ammar al-Hamdan, remained in custody.

"We are relieved to hear that our colleague Ahmed Vall Ould Addin has been released and we urge the Libyan government to also release the two Al-Jazeera journalists who remain in custody," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. "The total number of detained journalists in Libya keeps rising because the government is detaining new journalists faster than it is releasing those it holds."

At least 17 journalists and media workers are either missing or in government custody in Libya, CPJ research shows.

On Sunday, an Egyptian military court in Cairo sentenced blogger Maikel Nabil Sanad to three years in prison for "insulting the military," his defense lawyer Ali Atef told CPJ. Sanad was arrested on March 28 in connection with a recent article in which he criticised the military for not being transparent in its decision-making. Atef told CPJ that the presiding military judge informed the three-attorney defense team that the case had been adjourned until April 12. Later that same day, though, after the lawyers and Sanad's family members had left, the court announced that Sanad had been found guilty. "It is bad enough that my client, a civilian, is being tried in a military court," Atef said. "But it's outrageous that the court is violating his rights to a fair trial." Although a military court verdict may not be appealed, the defense plans to file a grievance with military authorities, Atef told CPJ.

"Egypt's ruling military council professes to support the goals of the Egyptian revolution, but seems to have forgotten that chief among those goals was ending a number of authoritarian practices, two of which are of particular relevance here: the criminalisation of peaceful dissent and trials of civilians in military courts," said CPJ's Abdel Dayem.

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