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.
‘Nuisance’
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
AFP
WIKI PROFILE
Mahmoud Hussein (born 12 December 1966) is an Egyptian former journalist who worked for . 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 .
Career
[]Hussein was born on 12 December 1966 in the village of Zawiyat Abo Musallam. He attended and graduated with a degree in economics and political science in 1988. Hussein achieved a master's degree in international law from in 1989 and a second bachelor's degree in law in 1994.
Hussein began his journalism career as a politics editor and then broadcaster for the radio station in Cairo. He joined the state-run 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 . He taught news production and editing at the Radio and Television Institute in Cairo.
Hussein joined 's Cairo bureau as a correspondent in 2010 after serving as a freelancer for the network. When the Egyptian authorities closed Al Jazeera's Cairo office in 2013, he moved to Al Jazeera's headquarters in to work as a news producer.
Arrest and imprisonment
[]On 20 December 2016, Hussein was arrested shortly after his arrival in Egypt while on a visit to see his family. He was questioned for 14 hours without a lawyer present and then released. Hussein was arrested for a second time on 23 December 2016 but it was not announced by Egyptian authorities until two days later. 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 (AJMN). Egyptian media circulated information that detailed Hussein as a terrorist and an .
Hussein was held in the maximum-security where he experienced physical and psychological duress. 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.
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. 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.
The sets a maximum period of 620 days for individuals who are investigated for a felony; Hussein reached 1,000 days of illegal detention in September 2019. His detention was extended by Egyptian authorities more than a dozen times. 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.
Calls for release
[]The (AJMN) consistently denied the charges placed against Hussein and called for his release. Mostefa Souag, the Acting Director General of AJMN, has called Hussein's case as "baseless accusations and trumped-up charges." On the 1,000th day of his illegal detention, Al Jazeera launched a campaign website at FreeMahmoudHussein.com.
On 3 February 2018, the (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.
The and called for Hussein's release. His case has been detailed by the .
On 6 February 2021, Hussein was released from prison. Mostefa Souag, the acting director-general of the AJMN, called the release "a moment of truth and an inspiring milestone towards press freedom."
Personal life
[]Hussein has nine children.
