Egypt: Al-Jazeera’s Mahmoud Hussein free at last after spending four years in Egyptian prison

Posted On 5 February 2021

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1201 issue: week ending 12 February 2021

By Mona Salem with Gregory Walton in Doha – Egypt has freed a journalist for Qatar’s Al Jazeera, a security source said Friday, after four years in jail without trial following the end last month of a rift between the two Arab states. Mahmoud Hussein, an Egyptian national who had been imprisoned since December 23, 2016, was released on Thursday night, the Egyptian security source told AFP without elaborating. But Gamal Eid, head of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, said that while the decision to release Hussein had been taken, “he has still not returned home and is still being held”.

The 54-year-old was detained in Cairo when he returned for a family holiday, and was accused of incitement against state institutions and spreading false news. Qatar’s Al Jazeera — which has run a daily campaign calling for his liberation — did not immediately confirm his release. It has repeatedly said he was being held “without formal charges nor trial”.  Hussein’s reported release comes two weeks after Egypt and Qatar restored ties, following a three-year Saudi-led freeze on relations with Doha.

Egypt, along with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, followed the lead of Gulf powerhouse Saudi Arabia and cut ties with Qatar in June 2017, alleging it backed radical Islamist groups and was too close to Riyadh’s rival Iran — claims Doha denied.  Ties were restored following a Gulf summit held in Al-Ula, Saudi Arabia last month.  “Releasing Hussein could indicate a sign of goodwill from Cairo to Al Jazeera that it wants a thaw in its relations with the news channel,” said King’s College London assistant professor Andreas Krieg. “But overall this is more about polishing its terrible human rights record a bit vis-a-vis the (US President Joe) Biden administration,” he said. “The new tone and priorities in Washington really created fears in Egypt that America will sever relations.”

‘Nuisance’

Egyptian analyst Amr El-Shobaki said Hussein’s release could be linked to rumoured plans to review of the status of prisoners in the country.  “There are those… who believe there should be a change concerning
prisoners held in cases related to freedom of expression,” particularly in light of the new US administration, he said.  In May 2019 prosecutors ordered Hussein be released, but a week later he was slapped with another set of charges and ordered to stay in detention.  Al Jazeera was caught up in a spat between Cairo and Doha after the 2013 military ouster of Egypt’s Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, who was backed by Qatar. Cairo considered it a mouthpiece for Morsi’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood movement, and access to its website has been blocked in Egypt since 2017.  “For Egypt, Al Jazeera remains the most important nuisance in the relationship with Qatar,” said Krieg.  After Morsi’s ouster, authorities arrested three Al Jazeera journalists, including Australian Peter Greste, provoking international condemnation. Faced with accusations similar to those levelled against Hussein, they were released in 2015 after receiving pardons from President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Investment hopes

Sisi’s government is regularly accused of crushing all forms of dissent and repressing political opponents.  Under his rule, authorities have jailed thousands of Morsi’s Islamist supporters as well as liberal and secular activists, including popular bloggers, actors, singers and journalists.  The Committee to Protect Journalists had said that as of December 2020, at least 27 journalists were imprisoned in Egypt in relation to their work, including several from Al Jazeera.
Analysts also linked Hussein’s release to Egyptian hopes of wooing investment.  “It may be purely random timing. But it wouldn’t be surprising if the Egyptian government sought ways to remove barriers to ever greater Qatari investment,” said David Roberts of King’s College London.  Tobias Borck of the Royal United Services Institute noted that the day after the Gulf summit renewing ties with Doha, a Qatari delegation was in Cairo for the inauguration of a Qatari-owned hotel.  “I am not sure to what extent this particular move is part of a thawing in relations,” said Borck.  “But it is rather obvious that Cairo and Doha have been in touch for a while — the opening of the $1 billion St. Regis in Cairo the day after the Al-Ula Summit made that pretty clear.”
AFP

WIKI PROFILE

Mahmoud Hussein

Mahmoud Hussein (born 12 December 1966) is an Egyptian journalist who worked for Al Jazeera. He was held in an Egyptian prison for four years without being charged or going through trial until his release on 6 February 2021. His incarceration was in violation of Egyptian law and was condemned by international rights groups, media freedom organisations and the United Nations.

Career

Hussein was born on 12 December 1966 in the Giza Governorate village of Zawiyat Abo Musallam.[1][2] He attended Cairo University and graduated with a degree in economics and political science in 1988.[3] Hussein achieved a master's degree in international law from Ain Shams University in 1989 and a second bachelor's degree in law in 1994.[3]

Hussein began his journalism career as a politics editor and then broadcaster for the Voice of the Arabs radio station in Cairo. He joined the state-run Nile TV in 1997 as a political affairs correspondent before a promotion to the channel's head of correspondents. Hussein worked with several Arabic news channels and became Cairo's bureau chief of Sudan TV. He taught news production and editing at the Radio and Television Institute in Cairo.[1]

Hussein joined Al Jazeera's Cairo bureau as a correspondent in 2010 after serving as a freelancer for the network.[1] When the Egyptian authorities closed Al Jazeera's Cairo office in 2013,[2] he moved to Al Jazeera's headquarters in Doha to work as a news producer.[1]

Arrest and imprisonment

On 20 December 2016, Hussein was arrested shortly after his arrival in Egypt while on a visit to see his family.[4] He was questioned for 14 hours without a lawyer present and then released.[5] Hussein was arrested for a second time on 23 December 2016 but it was not announced by Egyptian authorities until two days later.[6] Hussein was accused of "incitement against state institutions and broadcasting false news with the aim of spreading chaos"; the charges were denied by Hussein and the Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN).[4] Egyptian media circulated information that detailed Hussein as a terrorist and an enemy of the state.[5]

Hussein was held in the maximum-security Tora Prison where he experienced physical and psychological duress.[7] He was kept in solitary confinement for the first three months after his arrest, where he suffered a broken arm and was refused proper medical treatment.[5][4]

In May 2019, an Egyptian court rejected an order by the state prosecutor to release Hussein. Authorities returned Hussein to prison and opened a new investigation into him with unspecified charges.[4] Hussein requested to visit his critically ill father in hospital before the latter's death in November 2019 but was rejected by the prison warden.[8]

The Egyptian penal code sets a maximum pre-trial detention period of 620 days for individuals who are investigated for a felony; Hussein reached 1,000 days of illegal detention in September 2019.[4] His detention was extended by Egyptian authorities more than a dozen times.[9] Hussein shared a cell with three other inmates. He was allowed to have visitors once a week where his family observed his substantial weight loss and developed concerns for his health.[5]

Calls for release

The Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN) consistently denied the charges placed against Hussein and called for his release.[8] Mostefa Souag, the Acting Director General of AJMN, has called Hussein's case as "baseless accusations and trumped-up charges."[4] On the 1,000th day of his illegal detention, Al Jazeera launched a campaign website at FreeMahmoudHussein.com.[4]

On 3 February 2018, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) deemed the detention of Hussein as "arbitrary" and demanded his immediate release. The OHCHR report concluded there was "no legal basis in Egyptian law" for Hussein's continued pre-trial detention and drew attention to Egyptian authorities' failure to produce justifiable evidence.[7]

The International Press Institute and Amman Center for Human Rights Studies called for Hussein's release.[5][10] His case has been detailed by the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.[11]

On 6 February 2021, Hussein was released from prison.[9] Mostefa Souag, the acting director-general of the AJMN, called the release "a moment of truth and an inspiring milestone towards press freedom."[9]

Personal life

Hussein has nine children.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Hashem, Mohamed (20 December 2017). "Al Jazeera's Mahmoud Hussein detained for one year". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Mahmoud Hussein.. the son of the peasant and the prominent journalist". The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information. 14 April 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  3. ^ a b Chughtai, Alia (23 December 2020). "The life of Mahmoud Hussein, imprisoned Al Jazeera journalist". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "Al Jazeera's Hussein detained in Egyptian prison for 1,000 days". Al Jazeera. 19 September 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Free Mahmoud Hussein". International Press Institute. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  6. ^ "Egypt arrests Al-Jazeera journalist over 'provoking sedition'". The Guardian. 26 December 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  7. ^ a b "UN: Egypt's imprisonment of Mahmoud Hussein 'arbitrary'". Al Jazeera. 3 February 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  8. ^ a b "Al Jazeera's Mahmoud Hussein held in Egypt prison for 3 years". Al Jazeera. 23 December 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  9. ^ a b c d "Al Jazeera's Mahmoud Hussein released from jail in Egypt". Al Jazeera. 2021-02-06. Retrieved 2021-02-06.
  10. ^ "Statement on Mahmoud Hussein". Amman Center for Human Rights Studies. 6 August 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  11. ^ "Mahmoud Hussein". Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. 30 October 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Hussein

 

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