Arrest and deportation of Bel Trew, a correspondent for the Times, is the latest incident in an unprecedented crackdown

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Egyptian authorities threatened a British journalist with a military trial and expelled her from the country with no stated cause, in advance of the country’s upcoming presidential election.

Bel Trew, a journalist with the Times, was arrested on 20 February while reporting in Shubra, a working-class neighbourhood of Cairo, and taken to a police station. Hours later, she was driven to Cairo international airport and forced to board a flight for London.

In an account published on Saturday by the Times, Trew wrote: “The charges were never revealed to me. [But] after seven hours of detention, I was threatened with a military trial, a legal process often used against terrorism suspects or dissidents.”

Egypt detains state TV host in latest crackdown on media Read more

“Less than 24 hours after I was first detained, I was marched on to a plane with nothing but the clothes I was standing up in. The choice before me – stay for a military trial or leave – was no kind of choice,” she wrote.

The arrest and deportation of a foreign journalist is the latest incident in an already unprecedented crackdown on press freedom in Egypt.

Foreign media workers have been subject to imprisonment or arrest in the past, but Trew’s expulsion has raised concerns about whether journalists are safe to report in Egypt ahead of the country’s upcoming presidential election on 26 March.

In a statement, the Times said that it had withheld news of Trew’s deportation while investigating if she could return to the country.

“The circumstances of her detention and the threats made against her were sufficiently outlandish to suggest that a mistake had been made, based on a misunderstanding. We have since been trying to ensure her safe return to Cairo, in time to cover the presidential election. It is now clear that the authorities have no intention of allowing her to return,” the newspaper said.

“As far as the Cairo authorities are concerned, I am on a list of ‘undesirable people’ and if I attempt to return I will be re-arrested,” wrote Trew.

A spokeswoman for the British embassy in Cairo said that the motivation for Trew’s expulsion was still unknown.

“We have provided support and raised our concerns at the highest levels. The foreign secretary has raised it directly with the Egyptian foreign minister. The Egyptian authorities have not shared any evidence of wrongdoing. We will continue to press them on this case,” she said.

The Egyptian government did not respond to requests for comment.

Trew, 33, moved to Cairo shortly before the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

Since the current president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, came to power in a 2013 military coup, the climate for Egyptian and foreign media has grown increasingly repressive.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 20 Egyptian journalists were behind bars as of December last year.

Egypt is described as one of “the world’s biggest prisons for journalists”, by the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders, ranking 161 out of a total of 180 countries on their annual World Press Freedom Index.



</s>CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian authorities arrested a British journalist and expelled her from the country after threatening her with a military trial, The Times said on Saturday. The move comes as part of a heavy crackdown on media ahead of this month’s presidential elections.

Bel Trew, who has been in Egypt for seven years, had been detained and faced “sufficiently outlandish” threats to suggest a misunderstanding over reporting she carried out in a central Cairo district, The Times (of London) said. She was expelled in late February. The British daily has been since attempting to bring about Trew’s safe return to Cairo to cover the elections but to no avail.

“It is now clear that the authorities have no intention of allowing her to return,” The Times said in a statement. Egyptian authorities were not immediately available for comment.

Trew said in an account on the Times’ website that she has been listed as a persona non-grata and that Cairo authorities threatened to re-arrest her if she attempts to return.

She said her reporting in the district of Shoubra was part of a story on a migrant boat that disappeared two years ago. An informer seems to have reported her to the police, she added. She was stopped shortly after she left a cafe where she was conducting an interview.

“The taxi had just pulled away from the café ... when a minibus of plain-clothes police officers cut us off. Five men jumped out and took me to a nearby police station,” she said, adding that she provided the authorities with the audio recording of the interview. “It was either ignored and not listened to — or listened to and ignored,” she said.

Egypt has often detained, jailed and prosecuted journalists under President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who led the military’s 2013 overthrow of elected Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, after mass protests against his one-year divisive rule.

Advocacy group Reporters Without Borders ranked Egypt as 161 out of 180 countries on their 2017 World Press Freedom Index.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalist ranked Egypt among the top worst jailers of journalists in a December report. It says some 20 reporters remain detained; several face charges of spreading “false news.”

Some 500 websites have been blocked since last year including many run by rights groups, sites critical of the government and the VPN services that help users bypass the blocks.

Pro-el-Sissi businessmen have also expanded their reach into an already cowed private media, according to Reporters Without Borders. The group says security forces maintain a list of “wanted” journalists they have sometimes even forcibly disappeared, and are especially keen to crack down on individuals who sell video content to opposition media abroad.

The government’s stepped up warnings to the media ahead of the 26-28 March presidential election, in which el-Sissi faces no serious challenge after a string of hopefuls were forced out of the race or arrested. His only challenger is a little-known candidate who supports him.

Early March saw some of the harshest official rhetoric to date taking aim at the press. The country’s chief prosecutor, Nabil Sadeq, described the media as “forces of evil” — one of el-Sissi’s hallmark phrases — saying they have been trying to “undermine the security and safety of the nation through the broadcast and publication of lies and false news.” El-Sissi himself described any defamation of the country’s security forces as “high treason.”

Shortly thereafter, a bill was proposed in parliament criminalizing any statements authorities define as insults toward the armed forces or police, with penalties of at least three-year jail terms and fines upward of 10,000 Egyptian pounds (or $567).

Egyptian authorities have also published a list of telephone numbers for citizens to alert reports they view as undermining security or spreading false news.</s>A British journalist based in Egypt has been expelled from the country as authorities tighten control over the media ahead of upcoming presidential elections.

Bel Trew, The Times' Cairo correspondent, was arrested in February after doing an interview and then faced "sufficiently outlandish" threats.

After her release she was escorted to an airport and forced to board a plane to the UK.

Trew, who has worked in Egypt for seven years, has now been declared a persona non-grata and threatened with rearrest if she returns to Cairo.</s>LONDON (AFP) - A British journalist for The Times has been expelled from Egypt, the newspaper said on Saturday (March 24), in a move it said reflected the "oppressive environment" created there for the press.

Ms Bel Trew was driven to the airport and forced to board a flight in February, but the London-based paper held off commenting publicly as it sought to negotiate her return to cover elections starting on Monday.

This had proved fruitless, and a spokeswoman said: "The Times deplores this attempt to intimidate and suppress our coverage."

"This is sadly in line with the oppressive environment that President (Abdel Fattah) al-Sisi has created for the press."

The paper said Ms Trew, who had lived in Cairo for seven years and had been reporting for The Times since 2013, was held after interviewing a relative of a man who died on a migrant boat to Europe.

"In late February, Bel Trew was arrested and forced to leave. Her detention and the threats made against her were sufficiently outlandish to suggest a mistake had been made," the spokeswoman said.

"We have been trying to ensure her safe return to Cairo to cover the presidential election. It is now clear that the authorities have no intention of allowing her to return."

A spokesman for the British embassy in Cairo told the paper that Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson "has raised the case directly with the Egyptian Foreign Minister".

"The Egyptian authorities have not shared any evidence of wrongdoing. We will continue to press them on this," the spokesman said.

AFP sought a response from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, but it was not immediately available.

The media in Egypt have been under close scrutiny in the lead-up to the elections, in which Mr Sisi is the main choice on the ballot paper.

There has been an increase in the number of cases of journalists being arrested and websites blocked.</s>A British reporter with the Times of London was arrested and deported from Egypt late last month, the newspaper has said, denouncing "the oppressing environment" for journalists created in the country by authorities ahead of a presidential election.

Bel Trew was detained on February 20 in Egypt's capital, Cairo, after interviewing a relative of a man who died on a migrant boat to Europe, the Times said in a statement on Saturday.

She was not provided an official explanation for her detention and no charges were brought against her, the London-based newspaper said.

In an account published in the Times, Trew said she was marched on to a plane less than 24 hours after her arrest "with nothing but the clothes I was standing up in".

During her detention, she was threatened with a military trial, she wrote. Egyptian police officers also mocked her for being scared and filmed her on a mobile phone.

"The choice before me - stay for a military trial or leave - was no kind of choice," she said.

Trew, 33, had been living in Cairo for seven years and reporting for the Times from there since 2013.

The newspaper said it held back from reporting on her deportation until Saturday as it was trying to return her to Cairo to cover the country's upcoming presidential election, which starts on Monday.

"Her detention and the threats made against her were sufficiently outlandish to suggest a mistake had been made," a spokeswoman for the Times said. But it "is now clear the authorities have no intention of allowing her to return."

The Times spokeswoman said the "attempt to intimidate and suppress our coverage" was "sadly in line with the oppressive environment that President [Abdel Fattah el-]Sisi has created for the press".

In her account, Trew said authorities in Cairo have registered her on a list of "undesirable people" and made it clear to her that she would be arrested if she attempted to return.

"I can't go back to my home of seven years. Nobody can explain why," she wrote.

The British embassy in Cairo said it raised the case with Egypt's foreign minister.

"The Egyptian authorities have not shared any evidence of wrongdoing. We will continue to press them on this," a spokesman for the embassy told the Times.

Earlier this month, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a press freedom group based in New York, said Sisi's government intensified censorship in the country since he announced his election bid in January.

At least four journalists have been arrested after interviewing opposition candidates, being critical of Sisi or for having alleged links to opposition or activist groups, the CPJ said.

All four were arrested in late February and remain in police custody.

Egypt's Supreme Council for Media Regulation also banned in February four entertainment and satirical shows on moral grounds, according to media reports.

Al Jazeera's Mahmoud Hussain, an Egyptian national, has spent more than a year behind bars in Egypt on charges of disseminating "false news". Al Jazeera denies the allegations against him.</s>CAIRO—Egyptian authorities arrested and expelled a British journalist with the Times of London last month, the newspaper disclosed Saturday, in the latest sign of a government clampdown on press freedom.

Bel Trew, one of the most established foreign correspondents based in Egypt, was arrested in Cairo on Feb. 21, threatened with military trial on undisclosed charges and then forced to board a plane the next day, she wrote in the Times.</s>Egyptian authorities say a British journalist expelled from the country last month did not have valid accreditation and was filming without a permit.

The State Information Service said in a statement Sunday that The Times of London correspondent Bel Trew, expelled after being threatened with military trial, also covered Egypt unfairly and published false information.

The move comes as part of a heavy crackdown on media ahead of this week’s presidential election, which President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is set to win after all serious competitors were arrested or intimidated.

Trew, who had been in Egypt for seven years, was expelled in late February after being arrested for reporting in Shoubra, a central Cairo district. The SIS said she had not applied for a temporary press card while awaiting her annual one.</s>A British journalist has been expelled from Egypt as authorities in the country crack down on the media ahead of the upcoming presidential elections.

Bel Trew, The Times’ Cairo correspondent, was ordered to leave late last month having been detained three weeks ago, according to the newspaper.

The journalist was driven to the airport by police and made to board a flight to London.

A spokeswoman for The Times said: “The circumstances of her detention and the threats made against her were sufficiently outlandish to suggest that a mistake had been made, based on a misunderstanding.

“We have since been trying to ensure her safe return to Cairo, in time to cover the presidential election. It is now clear that the authorities have no intention of allowing her to return.”

“The Times deplores this attempt by the Egyptian authorities to intimidate the media and suppress our coverage.

“This is sadly in line with the increasingly oppressive environment that President Sisi has created for both domestic and international press.”

Ms Trew says she had been listed as a persona non-grata and that Cairo authorities have reportedly threatened to re-arrest her if she attempts to return.</s>A British journalist expelled from the country last month did not have valid accreditation and was filming without a permit, Egyptian authorities said Sunday.

The State Information Service said in a statement that The Times of London correspondent Bel Trew, expelled after being threatened with military trial, also covered Egypt unfairly and published false information.

The move comes as part of a heavy crackdown on media ahead of this week's presidential election, which general-turned-President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is set to win after all serious competitors were arrested or intimidated into dropping out.

Trew, who had been in Egypt for seven years, was expelled in late February after being arrested while reporting in Shoubra, a central Cairo district. The SIS said she had not applied for a temporary press card while awaiting her annual one.

Neither The Times nor Trew did not immediately had responses to the claim. The SIS said that authorities had issued Trew with credentials allowing her to cover the election but did not clarify how she could return to the country after being expelled.

It also took aim at reporters who wrote about the expulsion, saying they did not ask authorities for their version of events.

Trew said in an account on The Times' website that she has been listed as a persona non-grata and that Cairo authorities threatened to re-arrest her if she attempts to return.

She said her reporting in Shoubra was part of a story on a migrant boat that disappeared two years ago. An informer seems to have reported her to the police, she added. She was stopped shortly after she left a cafe where she was conducting an interview.

"The taxi had just pulled away from the café ... when a minibus of plain-clothes police officers cut us off. Five men jumped out and took me to a nearby police station," she said, adding that she provided the authorities with the audio recording of the interview. "It was either ignored and not listened to - or listened to and ignored," she said.

Egypt has often detained, jailed and prosecuted journalists under el-Sissi, who led the military's 2013 overthrow of the country's first freely elected civilian President Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, after mass protests against his one-year divisive rule.

Advocacy group Reporters Without Borders ranked Egypt as 161 out of 180 countries on their 2017 World Press Freedom Index.</s>Bel Trew is a reporter with The Times. Picture: Twitter

Cairo - Egyptian authorities have arrested a British journalist and expelled her as part of an escalating crackdown on media ahead of this month's presidential elections.

Saturday's statement by The Times newspaper in London said that Bel Trew had been detained and faced "sufficiently outlandish" threats before she was expelled in late February.

The British daily says attempts to bring about Trew's safe return to Cairo to cover the elections have been made but to no avail.

Trew says she had been listed as a persona non-grata and that Cairo authorities threatened to re-arrest her if she attempts to return.

Egypt has detained, jailed and prosecuted journalists under President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who led the military's 2013 overthrow of an elected Islamist president.

Egypt ranks near the bottom of press freedom indexes.
The Times reports their journalist, Bel Trew, had been expelled from Egypt shortly after her February 20 arrest. Trew had been given the option of a military trial or leaving the country.